A Reasoned Approach to Dealing With Fake News

Abstract

We now have almost no filters on information that we can access, and this requires a much more vigilant, knowledgeable reader. Learning false information from the web can have dire consequences for personal, social, and personal decision making. Given how our memory works and our biases in selecting and interpreting information, now more than ever we must control our own cognitive and affective processing. As examples: Simply repeating information can increase confidence in its perceived truth; initial incorrect information remains available and can continue to have an effect despite learning the corrected information; and we are more likely to accept information that is consistent with our beliefs. Information evaluation requires readers (a) to set and monitor their goals of accuracy, coherence, and completeness; (b) to employ strategies to achieve these goals; and (c) to value this time-and effort-consuming systematic evaluation. Several recommendations support a reasoned approach to fake news and manipulation.

How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online

“…The third problem is the risk of censorship inherent in regulations that target content; behavioural sciences can reduce that risk as well. Rather than deleting or flagging posts based on judgements about their content, we focus here on how to redesign digital environments so as to provide a better sense of context and to encourage and empower people to make critical decisions for themselves [43][44][45] .…”

Education for a “Post-Truth” World: New Directions for Research and Practice

“…For example, people may not use reliable processes for spotting false information (e.g., evaluating sources, corroborating with independent sources), or their ideals for accepting claims may be lax (e.g., relying on plausibility or single studies instead of insisting on strong evidence). Even if people are mindful of epistemic processes and ideals, pervasive reasoning biases, such as the effect of repetition on perceived truthfulness (the so-called illusory truth effect), can undermine their abilities to successfully employ them (Britt et al, 2019). People's limited metacognitive understanding of epistemic aims, ideals, and processes may compound these challenges.…”

Constraints and Affordances of Online Engagement With Scientific Information—A Literature Review

“…Educational researchers and educational psychology researchers have long investigated individuals' reasoning and engagement with scientific and online information, and have posited educational implications; these researchers have delved much deeper into specific aspects relevant to our heuristic framework (e.g., Alexander and The Disciplined Reading and Learning Research Laboratory, 2012;Leu et al, 2013;Fischer et al, 2014;Tabak, 2015;Cho and Afflerbach, 2017;Breakstone et al, 2018;Britt et al, 2019;Coiro, 2020). Taking past conceptualizations into account, we use the term "online engagement with scientific information" not to introduce an entirely new concept or to replace any related concept; instead, here we review this literature, specifically to provide a comprehensive overview of OESI-focusing its context and on cognitive and motivational processes that support it-to derive implications for education and instruction.…”