Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/19/opinion/sunday/fake-news.html
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/01/why-smart-people-are-more-likely-to-believe-fake-news
Why Do People Believe Fake News?
Cognitive dissonance
Different Ideas
people tend to believe ideas that support their beliefs
empirical evidence presents data that defies people's beliefs
People are less likely to change their political beliefs
people who changed their beliefs
less BOLD signal in the insula and the amygdala
people who greatly resisted these ideas
increased response in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and decreased activity in the orbitofrontal cortex
shows how emotions affects our reasoning
Main characteristics of those who believe in fake news
Low in three kinds of people
- Religious fundamentalists - People who are inclined to delusional thinking
- People who are inclined to dogmatism
Open mindedness
People are more willing to find and accept new idea that could contradict their beliefs
Critical thinking
The intellectual ability to reason ideas
Ways to stop believing fake news
Fact checking websites
Be investigative
How do you know that is true?
Cognitive Simplicity
The human mind isn't usually skeptic
The belief comes to the mind
Cognitive laziness
People fail to use their ability of critical
thinking to be able to determine the
truth from the fake news
Reporter's ability to change facts
makes fake news believable
Fake news are entertaining to people
Alters emotions which makes people more likely to believe
Fake news are unroll at a faster than real news
In Late April 2013, the Associated Press' (AP) Twitter account surprised its millions of followers
after it tweeted that an explosion at the White
House injured President Barack Obama. It garnered over 4000 retweets and became one of the most expensive tweets in history after it caused the stock prices to drop. While stock markets rebounded as soon as the tweet was confirmed to be fake, the damage had been done - it cost over $130 billion in stock value losses.
Rationalization
People use their intellectual abilities
to remain believing what they want
instead of finding the truth
Tribal unity
The opportunity to be part of the group
Crossfire Effect
Some people hold on more to their beliefs when they are presented with evidence that denies it.
