Lecture 5 Flashcards
What are the cognitive and socio-affective drivers of belief?
The cognitive drivers are related to intuitive thinking, cognitive failures and illusory truth. The socio-affective ones are source cues, emotion and personal worldview.
What is the classical account, in relation to truth?
It argues that System 2, the deliberative one, corrects the faulty intuitions and instinct of System 1. The more deliberation, the less we believe false claims and the better we discern the truth and falsity.
What is the motivated reflection account, in relation to truth?
It argues that reasoning is motivated by political identity, hence when presented with a news that is contrary to previous political affiliation, humans activate the so-called “identity protective cognition”, given that they align their individuality with a specific group. This is a problem as polarisation ought to increase, given that individuals are only interested in aspects that align with their views, even if those are false.
What is memory? How does it affect information? What is the sleeper effect problem?
It represents subjective experiences that are reactivated in the current situation. It can be argued that present knowledge affects memory. The more we try to analyse a past event, the more different it will look in the end. It is easier to believe false things that fit with what you know or remember. A memory is closer to the original truth if the source of information is remembered, though most do not focus on the source. Hence, we reach the sleeper effect problem. This argues that a low credibility source is not persuasive initially, but over time the message has more impact as the source information is forgotten.
What are the 5 criteria for determining truthfulness?
Compatibility, coherence, credibility, consensus, evidence.
What biases might occur in the assessment of information
Confirmation bias in compatibility, fluency bias in coherence, recognition bias and others is credibility, familiarity heuristics in consensus, availability bias in evidence.
What is the effect of reputation heuristic on credibility ?
Recognition heuristic assigns greater value to recognised alternatives. Authority heuristic assigns greater value if one is an expert, even if on a different subject (possible halo effect).
What is the effect of endorsment heuristic on credibility?
Knowing others results in liking bias or agreement heuristic, which argues that people often agree with those that they like. Not knowing other results in a Bandwagon effect.
What is the effect of consistency heuristic on credibility?
Consensus heuristic is based on the assumption that consensus reflects correctness. Though, that is not reliable nowadays, as news sites get information from the same source. We have consensus, but the source is not always checked, so not always correct
What is the effect of self-confirmation heuristic on credibility?
Confirmation bias argues that credibility is assigned in relation to previous knowledge, whilst belief bias argues that credibility is assigned in relation to previous beliefs.
False consensus effect represents the tendency to believe that own opinions are right and widely shared by others.
What is the effect of expectancy violation heuristic on credibility?
Effort heuristic represents the tendency to value objects based on how much effort went into producing them. This produces a halo effect in believing the value of the information.
Persuasive intent heuristic argues that if you feel that people want to persuade you, one assigns less credibility to the content.
What are personalised echo chambers?
The internet is a critical factor that promotes today’s polarisation. The algorithm, through filter bubbles, automatically recommends content that will be in line with the user’s expectations, beliefs and preferences. Such filters lead to personalised echo chambers, a space where individuals with similar filters come together. These elements can amplify segregation and polarisation.
What issues arise when individuals do not pay attention to reality?
If one is not attentive, one has inattentional blindness–failure to notice unexpected objects or events when attention is focused elsewhere–, or change blindness–failure to detect that an object has moved or disappeared. Hence, one perceives reality as they expect it to be.
What are the three intrinsic goals of humans?
- Form accurate perceptions of reality to guide your behaviour
- Develop and preserve meaningful social relationships
- Maintain a favourable self-concept
What is the False Tagging Theory?
It states that the default setting of the brain is to believe everything we perceive. Without prior knowledge, one will believe new information. The same happens in the case of information that is concordant with prior beliefs. Though, if new information is not in line with prior beliefs, the cognitive inconsistency evokes a negative state (cognitive dissonance). Hence, one ought to tag new information as false and make use of the System 2.
What is the Disrupt-then-reframe technique?
By telling a story, twisting its meaning and reframing it by inserting a persuasive phrase, change occurs on a cognitive level. Given the dual-process reasoning, disruption functions as a distracter, reducing the ability of the person to produce counter-arguments to the script. The disruption may foster lower levels of processing (System 1) and the reframe could have an impact on compliance to the extent that it functions as a heuristic cue.
What is the fear relief method?
By initially invoking fear, individuals seek for a solution and by providing one that leads them in the direction you want, change produces on an emotional level. Given that fear invokes specific plans of action, when the stimulus provoking fear is suddenly removed, the plan is no longer operative. Though, the person has not yet implemented a new plan. In this state of confusion/disorientation, the person functions automatically and mindlessly (S1), engaging in automatic, pre-programmed actions and is more likely to comply with a request.
What are the misinformation techniques?
Impersonation, polarisation , conspiracies, discredit, trolling.
What are the reactive approaches against misinformation?
Debunking and fact-checking.
What is debunking?
Debunking means presenting a corrective message to say that previous info was not true and including an explanation.
What is fact-checking?
It refers to checking facts that would (dis)prove a claim. Fact-checking is a process that requires time and effort. Most false claims never get fact-checked. Hence, one needs to maximise efficiency with crowd-sourced fact-checking.
What are the 4 problems of fact-checking?
The illusory truth effect argues that the mere repetition of information increases its perceived truthfulness, making even successful corrections susceptible to unintended consequences. One ought to avoid repeating fake news.
The continued influence effect states that people continue to retrieve false information from memory despite acknowledging a correction.
The implied truth effect argues that users may assume that (false or misleading) headlines without warnings have actually been verified.
Nonetheless, fact-checks are often outpaced by misinformation.
What are the proactive approaches against misinformation?
Inoculation theory and prebunking
What is the innoculation theory and prebunking?
The Inoculation process is constituted by pre-emptive exposure to weakened versions of a persuasive argument that triggers a cognitive-motivational process, rendering a person more immune to persuasion (like a vaccine).
