The impact of misinformation

The lowest form of popular culture—misinformation, misinformation, disinformation, and disregard for the truth—has invaded real journalism.”

Carl Bernstein, American journalist who revealed the Watergate scandal

People fall prey to lies or misinformation much more often than we might think. The reasons for this are multiple and have to do with both contextual phenomena and the way in which information is articulated, as well as behavioral phenomena and those related to the way in which we process information and validate our set of beliefs.

According to researcher Nadia Brashier, from Purdue University, people tend to assume that if we hear a version or information that is repeated in a systematic way, then we assume that it must be true, a reasoning that in principle is false because there is usually a single version of the truth and multiple or infinite versions of false information on the same topic.

There are studies that show that, for example, in the case of information from social networks, even a single or first exposure to headlines that contain false information, generates a perception of truth or reality.

For a long time it was believed that this repetition effect was only effective when dealing with statements or information that had a high component of ambiguity, which made it easier for people to reinterpret information and accept false information as valid, but more recent research such as Prior exposure increases perceived accuracy of fake news, by Pennycook et al, have shown that repetition makes it possible to provoke a truth perception effect, even with obviously false and obviously contradictory and inconsistent information.

On the other hand, the existence of a phenomenon known as the effect of continuous influence has been documented, which is expressed as the fact that people who have a certain (erroneous) belief, its effect persists even when based on correct information to the contrary, the person identifies that their previous information was wrong, but some level of influence is maintained in their perception and decisions based on the previous wrong information.

In the article The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction, by Ecker et al, it is concluded that there are a series of cognitive, social and affective factors that lead people to adhere to and even promote incorrect information, as well as psychological barriers. that affect the ability of people to review –from their own knowledge– and correct their incorrect perceptions.

Different alternative models have been presented so that on platforms such as social networks, verification mechanisms and incentives for analysis and repetition are tested, for the correction of incorrect or imprecise information.

But the reality is that the current functioning and structure of social networks, in fact, not only enables but also stimulates the dissemination of incorrect information and the ratification of current beliefs, limiting the ability to correct people’s perceptions.

Due to the above, society currently faces the dilemma of, on the one hand, having platforms that allow the rapid dissemination of ideas and, simultaneously, the absolute certainty that most of the information disclosed there is imprecise and tendentious, but the different groups, almost always antagonistic and opposed, will always think that the information of the opposites is wrong.

raul@martinezsolares.com.mx