Class 12: Distinguishing between fact and fiction Flashcards
True or False: The article suggests that cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias and the availability heuristic, can contribute to the spread of fake news.
TRUE
What is the “disfluency-emotion link” proposed by the authors? (Schwarz & Newman)
The disfluency-emotion link refers to the idea that when people encounter difficulty in processing information, they may experience negative emotions such as frustration or anxiety.
According to Kahan, what might explain the difference in partisan beliefs that occurs in relation to the acceptance or rejection of climate change and evolution?
The influence of the sense of belonging, that rejects information sources conflicting with beliefs central to that identity. Individuals with greater cognitive capacities may also have a greater capacity to explain away inconvenient data.
What are the five criteria people often rely on when deciding if something is true?
Social consensus, compatibility, coherence, credibility, and support.
Define the ‘Confirmation Bias’.
‘Confirmation Bias’ - The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.
True or False? According to Stephan Lewandowsky, it is easier to change people’s behaviour than it is to change their attitudes.
True.
How does correcting misinformation with facts backfire in some occasions?
False information can seem more intuitively true so when a person thinks back to remember what the truthful statement was, they are more likely to remember the easier to process one, often the false statement.
Briefly define the meaning of ‘partisan heuristic’
Rules of thumb sensitive to cues of party affiliation or of identities and activities valued by or associated with their side of politics
Outline the difference between analytical and intuitive evaluation.
Analytic answers draw on relevant knowledge and may involve extensive information search, which is taxing and requires cognitive resources. Intuitive answers are less demanding and rely on feelings of fluency and familiarity.
What are some possible strategies for preventing or reducing belief in fake news?
- Explicit corrections of misinformation which do not simply inform the consumer that some information is incorrect, but also provide new information that plays the same role as the old. 2. Encouraging people to critically think and deliberate on the fake news 3. Bringing an accuracy motive to the forefront of audiences’ minds 4. Equipping people with skills to identify fake news 5. ‘Inoculation’: exposing people to a weakened version of the argument first
What are the three effects that can result as a negative consequence for using Corrections & Warnings to reduce Fake news?
- Backfire Effect - People become more committed to a claim following presentations of strong evidence against it. 2. Implied Truth Effect - Fake news headlines that fail to get tagged as (inaccurate) are considered validated & more accurate. 3. Tainted Truth effect - Informative news wrongly labelled as inaccurate leads to decreased credibility and can be exploited.
What is the deficit model in the context of belief in fake news?
The deficit model suggests that people believe in fake news due to cognitive limitations or ignorance. It implies that individuals with less cognitive capacity or knowledge are more likely to accept implausible or irrational information.
Why - according to Schwarz and Newman (2017)- are older adults more likely to experience a backfire effects of false information?
Because they are less likely to remember details better (which are necessary to remember the truth) and thus rely more on the feeling of familiarity.
What is Fake News?
A set of reports of public interest events that mimic reliable new sources, but intend to deceive or are indifferent to truth.
What is the relationship between gut feelings and intuition?
Gut feelings are automatic responses to sensory information, intuition involves conscious reflection and cognitive processing
What is Epistemology?
The study and theory of knowledge. It asks do we know things? And how do we know things?
Fill in the Blank: ______________ and ______________ are two factors discussed in the article that can influence gut feelings and judgments.
Emotional arousal and cognitive fluency are two factors discussed in the article that can influence gut feelings and judgments.
T or F: In the paper by Schwarz and Newman, it is suggested that gut feelings can sometimes be accurate indicators of truth.
TRUE
True or False? Incentivization and polling may have the effect of producing the very beliefs that are reported
True (i.e. the absence of a prior belief or not having confidence in the truth of the proposition they assert)
What are some interventions for combating fake news?
Media literacy, fact-checking, and promoting critical thinking
What is inoculation and how can it be used to prevent people from accepting fake news?
Inoculation is a technique that involves preemptively exposing people to weakened forms of arguments for fake news in order to build up resistance to them, and it has been shown to be effective in reducing people’s susceptibility to misinformation
Of these, which one is NOT true based on the reading: 1. information is more likely to be accepted when it comes from a credible source 2. a claim is less likely to be accepted when it has a large body of supporting evidence
- is NOT true. A claim is MORE likely to be accepted when it has a large body of supporting evidence
According to Levy & Ross 2021, what do they identify as a possible limitation to their discussion?
Their discussion is heavily skewed to the US context, because most of the available research concerns the United States
What are two ways people assess the compatibility of a claim?
Compatibility can be assessed analytically by checking the claim against other knowledge or intuitively by attending to one’s subjective experiences during exposure to the claim