Confirmation Bias | Psychology of Fake News
Confirmation bias refers to processing information by looking for or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs. This means that we are much more likely to believe something if it is in line with our existing beliefs.
Example: If you believe that Donald Trump is not good for American people, or Indian government is anti-Muslim or Muslims are bad for the society then you are more likely to dismiss any stories which disagree and show them in a positive light and more likely to believe which share and reinforce your exiting views.
Cognitive Bias
A cognitive bias refers to a pattern of selectively processing emotional information in one’s environment. Cognitive bias can make us vulnerable to fake news in the following areas.. Attention, interpretation, and memory.
If we’re anxious about something or an issue such as Islamic violence, we can interpret everything through that issue and only remember horrible stories about Islamic violence. We ignore other more balanced, nuanced, and positive stories.
People can use this to manipulate us. They will post stories, sometimes exaggerate or fake, that focus on issues that we are worried about. This can be used to manipulate how we behave or vote.
Partisan News
Both cognitive and confirmation bias can be used by partisan news agencies. These would be media companies in print or online who are explicitly in favor of one political party or agenda. They report the news through the prism of their own political viewpoint rather than attempt to be dispassionate, fair to all sides, and non-judgemental.
We can not tell any examples here.
Post-Truth
You should also be aware of the phenomenon’ post-truth’ which is defined as ‘a culture in which appeals to emotion tend to prevail over facts and logical arguments.’ This is particularly apparent in political rhetoric where the public is offered “alternative facts’ are only given data that supports a particular viewpoint. All other evidence is ignored or dismissed. This is often a combination of emotional apparels and simplification of complex issues.
Example: A story during the 2016 American Presidential election when some allies of Hillary Clinton were accused of being complicit in a child sex ring story based around a pizza restaurant in Washington D.C. The rumor seemed to start from a Twitter account associated with a white supremacist.
Echo Chamber
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An echo chamber is defined as ‘an environment, especially on social media site, in which any statement of option is likely to be greeted with approval because it will only be read or heard by people who hold similar views.’
The best example is Twitter. Twitter users self select who they associate with, and when they tweet, these will often be seen by people who share their views. This will generally result in a positive response to their opinion, thus validating their opinions.
When they look to see what other people’s opinions on topics are, they will generally be very similar to their own. When people express views that don’t align to their own, they may feel that they should unfollow or even block the individual or organization that has espoused it.
Cognitive Laziness
Human brains have evolved to conserve energy for more “important tasks.” Conventional wisdom holds that readers fall for fake news when it aligns with their political beliefs, no matter how outrageous the story. But a new study shows that it’s just a lack of analytic thinking. We don’t want to analyze the facts. Especially if our emotions are targeted.
Click here to see why people spread fake news
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