"The problem of people falling for falsehoods has become an urgent issue in recent years, as new technologies have conspired with sociopolitical currents within the culture to spread misinformation at unprecedented speed and reach. Psychologists who study this issue have focused mainly on individual vulnerabilities: the cognitive quirks and biases that predispose us to believe falsehoods, buy into lies, and give in to speculation."
"We are aware of how motivated reasoning and confirmation bias predispose people to arrive at a preferred conclusion by selectively tending to information that supports their existing beliefs rather than objectively and dispassionately collecting and assessing all available evidence. We know about negativity bias, a cognitive process by which we tend to dwell on and remember negative information. I've written here before about the cognitive operations-including fundamental attribution error,"
Misinformation harms cultural life and understanding its mechanisms has broad implications for individuals and society. New technologies combined with sociopolitical currents have accelerated the spread of falsehoods with unprecedented speed and reach. Psychological research has emphasized individual vulnerabilities such as motivated reasoning, confirmation bias, negativity bias, fundamental attribution error, belief perseverance, and the need for special knowledge. Awareness of these cognitive tendencies and adoption of mitigation strategies can reduce susceptibility to false claims. Emphasizing receivers alone risks neglecting sources. An alternative perspective frames misinformation as perpetrator-driven, calculated aggression requiring attention to those who generate and spread falsehoods.
Read at Psychology Today
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