- Hey, hey, come here. Do you know that Rupaul claims that Trump touched him inappropriately in the '90s, or that Obama signed an executive order banning the Pledge of Allegiance in schools nationwide? Okay, we all know that that was some grade A, top shelf, premium, fake news.
But you knew that, right? You're way too smart and well-informed to fall for that BS. But what if falling for fake news isn't about intelligence or how much information you have?
What if we're hardwired to believe what we wanna believe, regardless of the facts? The 2016 presidential election saw fake news come out of nowhere. A Buzzfeed analysis showed that the top 20 fake news articles on Facebook generated more clicks than the top 20 real articles from every major publication combined.
They were shared millions of times, and it's not that we're just sharing fake news. We appear to be believing the stories, too. A recent poll found that people believe fake news articles were somewhat or very accurate 75% of the time.
How can we be falling for fake news when we have these things? We have instant access to more information than we've ever had before. Debunking misinformation should be a piece of cake, right?
Decades of brain research say no. Turns out, our brains have other plans, a little something called cognitive bias. Cognitive bias is defined as a limitation in our thinking that can cause flaws in our judgment.
It's kind of like an annoying brain glitch that can lead us to make faulty conclusions. Fake news often exploits this and our brains love it, even if we're not conscious of it happening. Once we form conclusions, they're hella hard to change, even if we're presented with facts or evidence that directly contradicts those conclusions.
So, what exactly is going on in our brains to make us think that fake news is real news? Why can't facts change our minds? There are many flavors of cognitive bias, but one of the most researched is confirmation bias.
We seek out information that we believe or want to believe is true. It is also leads us to ignore or minimize facts that threaten what we believe. So here's a study that explains how it works.
Back in 2004 during the Kerry Bush election, researchers studied a group of 30 people, half Democrat, half Republican. Both candidates did what politicians do, they flip flopped on the issues. Then, the study asked the participants to analyze what the candidates said.
The participants let the candidate in their own party off the hook, but were super critical of the candidate in the other party. When researchers looked at their brain scans, they found that the area of the brain responsible for reason the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, was inactive, so people weren't using reason when evaluating the candidates they liked, but they were using the part of the brain that processes emotion, the orbitofrontal cortex, a classic case of confirmation bias, and their brains were also rewarding them with a rush of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good. So, is there an upside to confirmation bias?
Well, it could help protect us from ideas that may threaten our social standing in our "tribe. " Dan Kahan, a law and psychology professor at Yale University calls it identity protective cognition. We humans are hypersocial, so it's more important to protect our values and our relationships with family and friends than it is to risk losing that by adopting new beliefs.
Are you familiar with Tomi Lahren? She's a conservative political commentator. - A protest is a peaceful objection to a grievance.
A bunch of sore losers occupying a space is called a tantrum. - [Myles] But recently, she expressed her pro-choice view on abortion. - Now, I'm pro-choice, and here's why.
- As a result, members of her conservative tribe turned on her. Ouch. So, how do we defeat confirmation bias?
Well, you really can't, but our three step plan can help you get around it. Step one is recognize. Recognize that you have this bias in the first place.
We all do. You made it this far in the video, so you can check that one off. Step two is consider.
Consider that you may not really understand what you think you understand. Researchers call it the illusion of explanatory depth. Let's say I strongly believe that GMOs are bad for me.
If someone forces me to explain it, I just might realize that I don't understand it as well as I thought I did. Now, I might be less confident in my belief and more receptive to another point of view. Step three is research.
Research and break down the opposing viewpoint. You may realize that your understanding of where they're coming from is a bit too shallow. So now you know the perils of confirmation bias and have some tools to beat it.
Let's try it out. Without being a smart ass, pick a controversial topic and use step three on it. Don't try to persuade, but instead use research and facts to lay out why the other side believes what it believes.
Put your dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to good use, will you?
