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Fake news -

In recent years, the spreading of misinformation has become a hot topic. With seemingly the whole world on social media, there is a huge amount of information out there, and plenty of it is not true.

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Separating fact from fiction -

If the human brain were immune to misinformation, this would not be a problem. We could separate the truths from the lies, and use the truths to inform our decision-making.

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The human reality -

The reality is, however, that the human brain is highly susceptible to misinformation. We have a tendency to believe in lies that can be very destructive in many areas of our lives.

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Burning question -

So, why do our brains believe in lies? Why are we unable to distinguish between a true statement and a (sometimes glaringly obvious) falsehood?

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The general answer -

The current understanding is that our psychological biases make us vulnerable to falsehoods, and that we are unable to avoid believing them even if we try.

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Delving into more detail -

Part of the explanation involves a phenomenon called the "illusory truth effect." The basic idea is that we use familiarity and ease of understanding as shorthand for truth.

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The illusory truth effect -

This means that the more time a statement is repeated, the more likely we are to believe it is true, regardless of whether it is misinformation or fact.

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Day-to-day reality -

In our day-to-day lives, this makes a lot of sense and is not always harmful: the vast majority of statements we are exposed to are true.

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In the context of social media -

In the context of social media, however, this can be very dangerous, since people with an agenda can use repetition as a way of amplifying falsehoods.

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Supporting evidence -

The impact of the illusory truth effect is well documented. There is even one study that found a single exposure to a fake headline can make it seem truer.

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Eyes and ears -

Unfortunately, it seems that at a basic level we are all grappling with the human tendency to believe anything we see and hear.

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Confirmation bias -

Another important concept to consider when it comes to understanding why we believe lies is, of course, confirmation bias.

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In layman's terms -

In a nutshell, confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out information that fits with and confirms what we already believe or think we know.

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The effect of confirmation bias -

The effect of this is that once we believe one falsehood (perhaps we have been exposed to it repeatedly on social media), we are more likely to believe other falsehoods that confirm it.

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Well-documented phenomenon -

Again, confirmation bias is very well-documented and is one of the main reasons cited as to why critical thinking goes out the window in the context of social media.

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Correcting misinformation -

To make matters worse, studies show our brains are wired in such a way that it is very difficult to correct misinformation, even once we are made aware of it.

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Continued influence effect -

Indeed, there are multiple studies that refer to a phenomenon called the "continued influence effect."

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The idea -

The basic idea is that misinformation and falsehoods can continue to influence our thinking, even if we receive a correction and believe that correction to be true.

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The role of memory -

It is thought that one of the reasons it is difficult to correct misinformation is that correcting the falsehood does not remove it from our memory.

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Coexistence -

Instead, brain imaging studies show that both the misinformation and its correction coexist in our memory and compete to be remembered.

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Fading memories -

Over time, it is likely that our memory of the correction fades and we are left only with a memory of the original piece of misinformation.

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Expert opinion -

To quote psychology professor Nadia Brashier, “We’re running up against basic limitations of human memory when we’re giving people corrective information.”

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The role of identity -

Finally, this effect is compounded by the fact that the piece of misinformation is sometimes embedded into our identity or belief system.

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Model of understanding -

We build mental models that support our understanding of the evolving world around us, and it can be very different to remove a part of that model without the whole thing collapsing.

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How to combat misinformation -

So, what can we do about all this? How do we combat our tendency to believe in lies when it is so deeply entrenched?

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Priming our brains -

Research suggests that it may be possible to train our brains to recognize misinformation before we encounter it.

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Supporting evidence -

Indeed, one recent study found that watching a set of videos about common manipulation techniques helped participants be more skeptical of future falsehoods.

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Constant vigilance -

Another way to protect yourself from misinformation is to simply ask yourself whether what you are seeing is accurate whenever you are scrolling through your social media.

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Recent study -

One recent study found that nudging people to consider accuracy when scrolling made them less likely to share misinformation.

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All in all -

No one is immune to misinformation, but, with the right tools and awareness, we can help to reduce its effects.

Sources: (The Washington Post)

See also: The biggest news stories from the year you were born

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