Why do People Believe Misinformation?

Greetings. Why do people believe misinformation?

Misinformation has been identified as a major contributor to various contentious contemporary events and topics of interest ranging from extrasensory perception, to political elections, to the belief in Bigfoot and Yeti, to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only can widespread belief in misinformation lead to poor judgements and decision-making, it also exerts a lingering influence on people’s reasoning after it has been corrected, an effect known as the continued influence effect. In other words, the almost complete abandonment of any and all critical thinking skills.

People are more likely to believe misinformation if it originates from in-group sources rather than from out-group ones, or if they subjectively judge the source as credible and reliable. Such a judgment is based solely on opinion and not on objective facts, with such judgments being far too commonplace in today's society. People are also more likely to believe false and/or misleading statements that appeal to emotions such as fear, hatred, and outrage. They are also more likely to believe misinformation that paints their perceived opponents in a negative light than they are to believe misinformation that is negative about their own in-group, their own echo chamber. Finally, people are more likely to believe repeated information, even when it contradicts their prior knowledge. Repeat, repeat, repeat, the marching of the misinformation brigade. 

Consider how people talk about anything, and how trust, reputation, and influence are important measures in people's network and how they support the worthiness of information, products, services, opinions, and recommendations offered up by their choice of source. In the past few decades, there's been an acceleration of social networks available at our fingertips. This change not only allows us to connect with people on a worldwide basis, but also allows us to consume more and varied information, to meet our information needs. Whether or not that information is valid or not is the problem, the question that is not asked often enough, if at all. 

We human beings tend to gravitate towards information that we internally, often unconsciously, want to believe is true. Some say it is because the content already fits into a pattern of information where our collective opinions come together. Some say it is because of lost faith and trust in the news media, and therefore there's a distrust of information that doesn’t conform to the pattern of information that makes sense to us.  

Confirmation bias is like a tried and true course of action, as the saying goes, "when it ain't broke, don't fix it." The exact same can be said about information, for if it fits into our understanding of life as we know it, we easily accept it at face value, without blinking an eye. As a direct result, we don't have to question what we've previously known, or thought, to be true, we don't have to feel vulnerable that we were wrong in the past, and we don't have to shift our understanding of a subject matter to fit into what we believe to be true. 

Since human beings overlook objective facts in favor of interests that appeal to emotions or personal beliefs, we can now consider the times we currently reside in as a "post-truth era." Many of the fringe communities, previously unknown to the general public, are now easily heard in mainstream media, resulting in an upending of our previous ability to accept facts when we hear them. It begs the question. Are people just too stupid to recognize misinformation, or just too lazy to conduct a bit of research into what is being placed it their feet? Perhaps a bit of both, which is embarrassing, considering that we assign ourselves the unwarranted title of "intelligent species." 

Someday our species may earn that elusive title, but today is not that day.

Thank you for your time and consideration.