LECTURE 18: ‘CORRECTING MISINFORMATION, STRIVING FOR THE (IM)POSSIBLE’

Question 1

populism (key points)

Answer 1

• A political stance that emphases the idea of “the people” and often juxtapose this group against “the elite”.
• “The people” as a moral good force
• “The elite” as being corrupt and self-serving.

Question 2

False consensus

Answer 2

= Everyone except the elite thinks the same as each of these topics.
- A cognitive bias in which a person overestimates the extent to which other people share their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. It is the tendency to assume that one’s own opinions and values are more widely shared than they actually are.

Question 3

Populism in the context of social identity theory

Answer 3

-SIT/SCT
-> Thinking in “us” versus “them”
* Populism:
o “us” is the “ingroup”: the pure people and the likeminded, such as the populist politicians. o “Them is the “outgroup”: the economic and political elite running the government.
o (“identity-politics”)

Question 4

False consensus perceptions
false consensus is …

Answer 4

o Something is linked to SIT/SCT
o Overestimating the similarities within a group
* (overestimating the differences between groups) * but especially when the ingroup is under threat.
* “We must be right, our feelings must be correct”
* With false consensus perceptions, one can be “reassured” of the normality and appropriateness of one’s positions (Hoorens, 1993, p. 130).

Question 5

points according to populist ideology

Answer 5

o “The people” is a homogeneous group
o “We” who are alike as we share relevant values and ideas
o “we” who are not in power, but are the “silent majority”
o “the elite” is a homogeneous group
o “Them” who control us “including the media”

Question 6

Hostile media perceptions and populism

Answer 6

• Mainstream media→fake news
• Mainstream media can be seen as a specific interpretation of the elite (the “out-group”)
• In-group (“us, the people”). By out-group (“them, the elites and their media”)
  →hostile media perceptions

Question 7

Schultz et al 2020: study about

Answer 7

How strong people believe that their own opinion of many issues is shared with other people in the society.

Does the media say or think the same about topics as I do?

Question 8

Schultz et al 2020: outcome

Answer 8

The more populist you are you have the idea that the media tells a different story then you would tell the story.
→ There is a relation between the more populist you are they think that the media tells another story. (Belangrijk om te weten)
- Populists attitudes were linked to higher false consensus and higher media hostile effects

Question 9

how is misinformation spread? (inadvertently)

Answer 9

o Media
▪ Pressures from competition and 24/7 news cycle (less opportunity for fact-checking)
▪ “False balance” coverage even in the absence of balanced evidence
→ Would be wise to have a voice to 2 people who think different, one who thinks the earth is flat and one who think its round. Same example for vaccinate when pregnant.

o Social media:
▪ Fact-checkingdifficulties
▪ Echochambersandfilterbubbles

Question 10

how is misinformation spread? on purpose

Answer 10

o Repeating disinformation is persuasive.
o Disinformation campaigns designed to confuse, overwhelm, fatigue, disengage polarize, divide,
sow uncertainty, challenge the notion that truth is knowable.
o “Cognitive warfare”

Question 11

why do we believe misinformation?

Answer 11

• People like information that is in line with their previous ideas (and dislike “counterintuitive” information)
• People want to understand causalities, because if you understand what causes “events”. You can better prevent it from re-occurring. In particular in case of:
  o Unusual events
  o Negative events
• Helps avoid re-occurrence.
• The absence of good explanations opens door for misinformation.

–> In other words: People build mental models of the worlds and they prefer complete models and models that are in line with pre-exiting beliefs.

Question 12

Memory is reconstruction, what does this mean?

Answer 12

• Not like a recording device
• For example, if people study the words: “cloud, sun, wet, water, umbrella…”
• 50-80% of them will “remember” the word rain

Question 13

Two ways of an effective debunking

Answer 13

1. Create a gap with a retraction + fill the gap with a factual alternative which is not too complicated to understand
2. Flag the myths, don’t repeat the myths and focus on the facts –> people remember and believe familiar things
   or focus on the facts, flag the myths and don’t repeat the myths