#stopmisinformation

The hard part is accepting that it’s ok to be wrong. There is no shame attached to being wrong.

Many people struggle with this idea - especially those who have internalised the idea that being wrong is inherently a character flaw.

It isn't a character flaw, it's part of being human.

The real problems come when you aren't willing to change your mind when presented with facts which contradict things you believe.

Critical thinking involves facing new facts with an open mind and being willing to rethink your position on something.

Critical thinking does not mean doubting everything you hear/read - it means keeping in mind that anything you hear/read could potentially be wrong. It means keeping yourself open to new information about it in the future.

It means not just believing something because it's the first information you come across on a subject, or because it "sounds good".

Sometimes the truth isn't nice to hear, sometimes you will be wrong about something. It can be hard to deal with that, and you might experience an initial gut reaction to new information which goes against what you think you already know.

But if the subject is something that's important to you, or if you are passing on information about that subject, then you really should be checking that you keep an open mind and that your information is correct.

It also means you should check the source of your information before deciding to trust it. I've written about this in another post.

*** A Cognitive Bias is more or less when a person forms an opinion using incorrect thought processes.

Eg. Confirmation bias; When a person only accepts information that supports what they already believe, and rejects contradictory information.

For information about Cognitive Biases see this post.

What is a cognitive bias?

A Cognitive Bias is a subconscious way for humans to simplify information when trying to make decisions. However, they can lead to a person forming an opinion which isn’t actually in line with the facts.

“Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm and/or rationality in judgment.“ - Definition from Wikipedia

“A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information in the world around them and affects the decisions and judgments that they make.” - Definition from VeryWellMind.com

Examples of cognitive bias in relation to misinformation.

Availability bias: Greater likelihood of recalling recent, nearby, or otherwise immediately available examples, and the imputation of importance to those examples over others. (Being more able to remember information that was easily accessible, and considering it more important than information that was harder to access. Eg. Information from Tumblr blogs, vs information from scientific studies.)

Confirmation bias: The tendency to search for, interpret, or recall information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses. (When a person only accepts information that supports what they already believe, and rejects contradictory information.)

Illusory truth effect (Illusion-of-truth effect): People are more likely to identify as true statements those they have previously heard (even if they cannot consciously remember having heard them), regardless of the actual validity of the statement. In other words, a person is more likely to believe a familiar statement than an unfamiliar one. (When you believe something because you’ve heard it before, or because everybody’s saying it.)

Illusory truth effect: The tendency to believe that a statement is true if it is easier to process, or if it has been stated multiple times, regardless of its actual veracity. (When you believe something because it was easy to understand, or easy to accept.)

Belief bias: An effect where someone's evaluation of the logical strength of an argument is biased by the believability of the conclusion. (When you think the conclusion makes sense, so you think that the argument they used to get that conclusion must be sensible.)

Subjective validation: Where statements are perceived as true if a subject's belief demands it to be true. Also assigns perceived connections between coincidences.

(When you believe something is true because it fits in with what you already believe.)

  “Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions.”

”Truthiness” deals with those cognitive biases related to assuming truths without proper information or logical thought processes. This can affect people who don’t realise their thought process is flawed, but these fallacies can also be used on purpose to spread misinformation.

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All above definitions are from Wikipedia, with italicised explanations by me. (Please do not hesitate if you see any errors.)