Misinformation and Society

Preface xi Acknowledgments xvi Part One The Problem 1 Introduction: What Is Truth Anyway? 3 Welcome to the Post- Truth Era? 5 Grave Consequences 10 The Arguments and Structure of the Book 11 Chapter 1 An Old Problem in a New Environment 14 Change #1: A New Information Environment 16 From Talking to Writing 17 From the Big Six to the Great Democratizing Internet 19 Everybody’s a Content Creator: Web 2.0 and the Birth of Social Media 21 Change #2: A New Political Environment 23 A Constant Rain of Consequential Falsehoods 24 Misinformation from Within 27 Not Caring When He’s Wrong 28 A Lot of People Are Saying 30 Conspiracy Theories at the White House 31 Moving Forward 32 Chapter 2 The Many Faces of Misinformation 34 The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of Propaganda 35 The Problem with Fake News 39 Rumors 41 Conspiracy Theories 42 Some Conspiracies Are Real 43 Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories 45 The Business of Conspiracy Theories 48 Weaponized Conspiracy Theories 50 Conspiracy Theories Become Mainstream Again 52 Old Wine in a New Bottle 53 Part Two Believing 63 Chapter 3 The Psychology and Cognitions Behind Misbeliefs 65 Making Sense of Information 66 The Elusive Meaning of Evidence 68 Fluency and Familiarity 69 Mental Models 69 Source Credibility 71 How Do We Assess Credibility? 72 We Don’t Always Remember Who the Source Even Was 74 The Most Trusted Source: Ourselves 75 The Format Effect 76 The Power of Images 80 A Long History of Image Manipulation 82 Graphs, Numbers, and Maps 83 From Images to Audiovisual Manipulations 84 Here Comes AI 85 What Is So Different About AI? 87 When AI Fails 88 Chapter 4 Knowledge Versus Beliefs 90 On Being Ignorant 91 Knowledge about What? 92 The Deficit Model 94 Moving Away from the Deficit Model 95 Selectivity as a Defense Mechanism 96 Motivated Reasoning and Cognitive Dissonance 98 Strategies to Solve a Dissonant Feeling 99 Torn Between Two Goals 101 Selective Exposure 102 A Person with a Conviction is Hard to Change 104 Part Three Spreading 107 Chapter 5 The Spread of Misinformation 109 Misinformation Often Goes Viral 110 Misinformation Shared by Friends and Family Matters 111 Why Does Misinformation Prevail Online 112 Not a Level Playing Field 113 So, What Do Algorithms Do? 115 Why and What We Share with Other People 116 Social Currency 117 Triggers 118 Emotions 119 Utility 120 Narratives 120 Sharing Misinformation 121 The Science of Virality 121 Chapter 6 Misinformation from Elites 123 Misinformation from the Government 123 Misinformation from the Mass Media 125 A Brief Primer on Media Effects 128 The First Era of Perceived Media Effects 129 The Second Era of Perceived Media Effects 130 The Third Era of Perceived Media Effects 131 Do Journalists Spread Biased Misinformation on Purpose? 132 If Not Driven by Bias, Why Do Journalists Spread Misinformation? 133 Sometimes Journalists Do Lie 134 The Case of Fox News 135 The 21 st Century: New Technologies, New Exaggerated Expectations 138 Hope of Deliverance: The Early Days of the Web 140 Misinformation from Entertainment Media 141 Cultivation Effects 143 Stereotypes 144 Misinformation from Industries and Corporations 144 The Systematic Denial of Climate Science 146 Chapter 7 Misinformation from Nonelites 148 The Instagramable Life 149 Some Nonelites Lie Significantly More Than Others 151 Misbelieving Together 152 Stop the Steal 156 Who Is a Human Anyway? Trolls, Bots, and Sock Puppets 157 Foreign Interference 158 Part Four In Context 161 Chapter 8 Misinformation and Politics 163 Simple Minds, Gordian Knots 164 What Do Citizens Know (or not) About Politics? 165 The Power of Social Identity 166 The Great Political Realignment 167 Political Polarization or Political Sorting? 168 Affective Polarization 170 The Dangers of Group Identification 171 The Age of Mega- Identities 173 The New Rattlers and Eagles 175 Selective Exposure Revisited 177 Epilogue: Political Polarization, Intolerance, and Misinformation 179 Chapter 9 Misinformation and Science 181 Communicating Science Effectively 183 Because It Works? 184 Because Scientists are Smart and Competent? 185 Because Science Relies on Methods of Observation? 186 Science as a Collective Effort 189 The Failures of News Media When Communicating Science 191 Communicating Science is Hard and May Come at a Cost 194 The Rise of Alternative Medicine 195 Ineffective Treatments Can Still Be Unsafe 197 When Anti-Vaccine Sentiment Intersects with Politics 203 Chapter 10 The Politicization of Science 204 Attacks from the Left 209 The Science Wars 210 Science Enters the Culture War 211 What Should Be Considered a Part of the Culture Wars? 213 Science and Culture Wars 215 Part Five Intervening 223 Chapter 11 Who Should Fight Misinformation? 225 Market Facilitators, Editors, and Organizers 226 Transparency and Data Sharing 229 Experts, Advocates, and Club Coordinators 232 What Can Journalists Do to Restore Trust? 234 Governmental Regulation and Legislation 236 The Problem with Self- Regulation 239 What Now? 243 Reconsidering Anti- Trust Procedures 245 Are Interventions Even Useful? 246 Alternatives to Content Moderation 248 Hope for Education 249 Chapter 12 Uphill Battles, or Why Corrections Fail 252 Mental Models 253 Fluency and Familiarity 255 Belief Echoes 256 Some Solutions Are Better Than Others 258 Emotional Causal Narratives 258 Considering Values, Worldview, Morality, and Faith 258 Inoculation 261 Restoring Trust in Liberal Democratic Institutions 262 Conclusion 265 References 275 Index 325