The writer Jonathan Swift noted that "Falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after it." Charles Spurgeon in the 19th century, while there is "light as a feather … a breath will carry it."
Clearly, humans have always been susceptible to mistruths. And social networks simply provide another way to propel falsehoods.
MIT has recently been studied more than 10 years' worth of data on the most shared stories on Facebook. Their study covered conspiracy theories about the Boston bombings, misleading reports on natural disasters, unfounded business rumors, and incorrect scientific claims. There is an inundation of false medical advice online, for example, that encourages people to avoid life-saving and such vaccines and promotes unproven therapies. (Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop is just one example.)
The researchers concluded that "falsehood diffused significantly faster, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information."
And it's not necessarily more of a gullible. A separate study found that those over the age of 65 are as many as 18 to 29-year-olds. Older is not always wiser.
The psychological research does, however, offer a number of different aspects of life, with different experiences.
Inoculating yourself from the islands
These efforts are often called "inoculations," since they have used a real-life example of one-size-fits-all, and they are often used in the past. Educating people on the tobacco industry's attempts to make a consensus on smoking, for example, according to a new study.
Another project aimed at inoculating students at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, involved in misinformation throughout history. The class was taught about everything that some people do to somehow built the Egyptian pyramids to theories that NASA's moon landings were faked. Along the way, the students had to identify the logic that helped create the arguments, and the motivations that may lead to some people to spread those ideas.
Following the race, the students were less likely to believe in a range of false beliefs that were not even covered in the race, such as the idea that 9/11 was an inside job. The inoculation appears to be equipping them with a general skepticism that seems to escape traditional education.
If you would like to improve your own detection, a good first step is to learn the common logical fallacies – red herrings, appeals to ignorance, straw men and "ad populum" appeals to the bandwagon – that purveyors of misinformation may use to create the illusion of truth.
The Book of Bad Arguments is based on Alicia McGill, who taught the "inoculation" course on misinformation throughout history at North Carolina State University.
Questions to ask yourself when confronted with possible fake news
When examining a new claim, you would like to ask the following questions:
• Who is making the claim? What are their credentials? And what might be their motives to make me think this?
• What are the premises of the claim? And how might they be flawed?
• What are my own initial assumptions? And how might they be flawed?
• What are the alternative explanations for their claim?
• What is the evidence of their claim and how do they fit with the opposing explanations?
• What further information do you need to make a judgment?
You could also try basic strategies such as cross-checking different outlets and finding the original source of a claim. You might also look at independent fact-checking websites used in the MIT study such as Snopes, PolitiFact and TruthOrFiction.com.
And pay particular attention to the way the information is presented. We tend to show more faith in a claim if it is accompanied by a photo, for instance (A headline about a celebrity death is more believable, for example, if it appears next to a generic stock image of the person.)
It is also important to be aware of our biases supporter. We are more likely to believe something if we confirm our existing world view, while we will happily dismiss anything that disagrees with our pre-existing beliefs.
The psychological literature offers a good strategy against bias, called the "consider the opposite" method. This is a question that you would have made if your opinions had differed from your own. And if not, what kind of additional scrutiny might you have applied? This should help you identify the weaknesses in your own thinking.
Honing these skills will not just be embarrassing when discussing with your friends or co-workers. Some of the most important things in the world of life can be found in these areas of life.
By appraising evidence more rationally, you will be duped by others – and yourself.
Falsehoods may fly, but with this lie detection kit, you can be sure your actions and beliefs remain grounded in the truth.
