Fake News & Cognitive Biases 2
When Are People Most Susceptible To Misinformation?
In the previous post on Fake News & Cognitive Biases, we talked about how people are most susceptible to misinformation that contains some truth in it. But on top of that, there are also other factors that can increase people’s susceptibility to misinformation. Time is one of them. The time at which a piece of misinformation is spread can greatly influence the likelihood of someone believing in it.
In the second part of this mini-series, I will be sharing about when people are most susceptible to misinformation, some examples of when this has occurred, and the cognitive biases that are in play.
Riding on A Trending Topic
As mentioned in the previous post, misinformation that contains some truth can be very misleading. What better way to muddle truth in misinformation, than to ride on a trending topic that is the talk of the town. Such misinformation is not only topic relevant, but time relevant as well, allowing it to capture the attention of readers with much ease. When topics are trending, people naturally seek information about it, and it becomes easy to sneak false information into the mix.
In the image above, a Facebook page in Singapore was seen to have posted a video of a collapsing ceiling, initially claiming that the incident happened at Changi Jewel, an entertainment and retail complex on the landside of the international airport in Singapore. The Facebook page changed the video caption a number of times, before finally clarifying that the incident did not happen in Singapore some 10 minutes later, but still made a suggestion as to what it would be like if it had happened in Singapore.
To give some context, an 18-month-old toddler had actually died at Changi Jewel, after a full-length mirror fell on her at a fashion store, a couple of days before the video of the collapsing ceiling was posted. Because this incident was still fresh in people’s minds, it gave rise to the imagined plausibility that the ceiling in Changi Jewel could also collapse. While the video might still have gone viral without the mirror incident, there is no doubt that the preceding event helped to fuel the spread of the misinformation.
The tactic of riding on trending topics is often employed by scams as well. In 2018, the Singapore government announced that they would be sharing the fruits of Singapore’s development with Singaporeans by distributing a monetary bonus. When it was time for the distribution, an SMS was sent to remind Singaporeans to do a sign up for receiving the bonus. Scammers took this opportunity to send out a similar SMS, in order to steal personal particulars from unsuspecting individuals through a phishing website.
However, misinformation that ride on trending topics may not always be deliberate. Fabricated content that has been intentionally designed to deceive is known as disinformation, but misinformation can be false information that may have been spread out of goodwill, without being aware that it is false. For example, due to the recent haze in Singapore, Singaporeans have started using masks to protect themselves. Along with the increase in such behaviour, incorrect advice about the use of surgical masks was also spread by individuals with good intentions, who did not realise that what they had shared was actually false.
From the above examples, we can see that regardless of whether it is a video with a misleading caption, a phishing scam, or incorrect advise that is shared unknowingly, the time and context in which misinformation spreads greatly influences its believability, thereby increasing people’s susceptibility to the misinformation.
Periods of Chaos
Besides riding on trending topics, misinformation is also rife when there is some kind of disaster or chaos. In such situations, not only is the topic of great interest, but there is also a vacuum of information, allowing rumours and hearsay to fill in the gaps. The misinformation that spreads in times like these are often shocking and sensational, which excites consumers who then fuel the virality by sharing the content with others.
As can be seen in the image above, these situations include both natural and man-made disasters. The misinformation that follows is often hot on the trail as the events unfold, often adding more confusion to the chaos. While it seems like misinformation like these are rather harmless, they actually mislead people unnecessarily and give them the wrong impressions. This is especially problematic in incidents such as the Notre-Dame Fire, where sensitive issues like religion becomes part of the equation. Opportunists may take advantage of the disaster to spread negativity and extremism, stirring emotions against target groups and possibly creating even more chaos.
Similarly, the ongoing protests in Hong Kong creates a hotbed for misinformation on all sides to fester. Videos and images have been selectively edited to support viewpoints from both pro- and anti-government camps, baseless speculations give rise to conspiracy theories, and state-sponsored propaganda breeds even more distrust. In the end, the whole mess only results in a wedge being driven between the people of Hong Kong and the Police, opening a rift that makes the issue even more difficult to solve. Hence, it is especially during a time like this, that people are most susceptible to misinformation.
Availability Heuristic
While not entirely the reason why people are susceptible to misinformation at certain times, the availability heuristic is partly responsible for this bias.
The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies heavily on information most easily retrieved from a person’s memory. The shortcut works on the basis that if a piece of information can be easily retrieved, then it must be important, or at least more important than other information. Naturally, this mental process will be biased towards information that is more recent, or information that the person has been repeatedly exposed to. This results in an under-weighting and neglect of other information that may also be important.
Using the availability heuristic, people tend to pay attention to any information that is associated to a recent event of interest, regardless of whether the information is true or false. Information that is extreme, vivid or negative gets even more attention because it stands out, and unsurprisingly, misinformation often possess these characteristics. After repeatedly seeing the same information from different places, misinformation can become easily retrievable from memory, and the feeling of familiarity is confused with the truth. This is how people become susceptible to misinformation.
Conclusion
Ideally, it would be great if misinformation can be easily picked out when topics are trending or during periods of chaos. However, the problem is that real news is also widely shared at the same time, making it difficult for artificial intelligence to accurately separate what is real and what is fake.
But instead of trying to identify what is fake, perhaps a more feasible solution is to simply remind consumers that they should be careful of unverified content revolving around a developing story, especially if the content originates from a non-reputable source. To design this as a form of nudge, the reminder will have to be incorporated into the social media platforms where these misinformation mostly appear. Unfortunately, there isn’t much for the tech giants to gain by introducing such a function, unless they are serious in helping to tackle the problem of misinformation.
Until that is solved, misinformation will never stop following behind some trending topic or disaster incident, and people will always be susceptible to such misinformation.
If you would like to know more about the types of misinformation that people are susceptible to, check out the first part of this series:
If you would like to know more about why people are susceptible to misinformation, check out the third part of this series:
Originally published at: https://learncuriously.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/fake-news-cognitive-biases-2
