Research shows that smart people are more susceptible to fake news and conspiracy theories – but why?
Did you hear about the couple who decided to name their daughter Brexit? Or the fact that the regions voting leave also happened to be the areas afflicted by mad cow disease? How about the statement that smartphone radiation is causing brain damage and widespread insanity?
All these claims are false. You might think that you’d have to be stupid to believe this kind of stuff, but this is a serious misunderstanding of the way the brain works. Psychological research shows that misinformation is cleverly designed to bypass careful analytical reasoning, meaning that it can easily slip under the radar of even the most intelligent and educated people. No one is completely immune. Indeed, there is now evidence that smarter people may sometimes be even more vulnerable to certain ideas, since their greater brainpower simply allows them to rationalise their (incorrect) beliefs. Fortunately, the research also offers us some strategies to overcome those biases.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TOMGi5
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