The Psychology of Fake News - How to Avoid Misinformation

Fake news is the untrue news - at least some part of it - that is posted and spread to mislead the public. Fake news can also be information that is real but presented in an unfitting context and manipulated. Fake stories are created for political, financial or ideological reasons. Often these are dramatic messages that affect the emotions of the recipients.

Why do we believe in fake news?

1. A large amount of information = The information stress 

Internet and smartphone apps, which we part with only when we sleep, make us simply bombarded with information. Pop-ups, newsletters, notifications, posts from friends, messages from your boss... So much information drives you to the edge of mental confusion and frustration, and processing all of it requires more and more effort. Meanwhile ...

2. Our brain tries to rest whenever it can

Every day our brain processes millions of information, that is why, whenever it can, it preserves energy and eagerly uses simplifications, recognizing certain things as true. This mechanism is used by frauds to create messages that resemble authentic press articles.

3. We are emotional

We should also remember the controversy, arousing strong emotions, which have an especially strong influence on preserving information in our memory.

Both fear and empathy make the message more authentic and make us not only remember it better but also more eagerly share it with others.

4. Man is a social creature, prone to influence

Here goes another important factor. People are easily influenced because they have a need to belong and be accepted. 

A friend shared the information and 10 people gave positive comments? The crowd lined up to withdraw cash from ATM? Product x disappears from the shelves? I will do the same as them! This is social influence.

5. We are non-reflective

People more easily accept information that supports their previous beliefs, that is why we reject alternative lines of reasoning. Therefore, fake news repeated long enough, for some of us becomes a subjective truth. 

How to recognize fake news?

All fake news has something in common. They are usually all about drama and have a strong emotional impact. After reading a message designed to disinform, instead of getting excited and sharing it with our friends, we should take a deep breath and move on to critical analysis:

• It is crucial to read the articles to the end, not to be guided by only dramatic headlines. 
• We should verify the source cited by the author of the article or post
• When analyzing the statement, we should also distinguish between personal opinions and facts.
• It is worth checking and comparing the information with other reliable media - important news spreads quickly, and there is no exclusive license, so it is important to verify if any similar reports appear elsewhere and in what kind of context they are presented. 
• The nice look of the website, and even the correct Polish language is not enough to determine the credibility of the source of information, it is worth checking the information about the author, his previous publications, contact details of the editorial office, and even information about the domain (e.g., where it is registered.)
• It is also advisable to go to some fact-checking websites.

It’s important not to stay indifferent to disinformation. Let's act! Leave a comment under the misleading article, asking for the sources, report trolling social media accounts in order to make them blocked. In this way, we are able to clear the virtual space of the harmful content. This is especially important because a lot of fake news also reaches younger generations who are not yet able to critically separate the right content.

_Source:

_FakeNews.pl

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