Misinformation Sticks & Con Artists Know it (How to Fix it)

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ex-l

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Misinformation Sticks & Con Artists Know it (How to Fix it)

Post30 Sep 2012

From: ScienceDaily Sep. 19, 2012
Edward Maibach of George Mason University wrote:Misinformation: Why It Sticks and How to Fix It

Childhood vaccines do not cause autism. Barack Obama was born in the United States. Global warming is confirmed by science. And yet, many people believe claims to the contrary.

Why does that kind of misinformation stick? Psychological scientist Stephan Lewandowsky of the University of Western Australia and colleagues highlight the cognitive factors that make certain pieces of misinformation so "sticky" and identify some techniques that may be effective in debunking or counteracting erroneous beliefs.

The main reason that misinformation is sticky, according to the researchers, is that rejecting information actually requires cognitive effort. Weighing the plausibility and the source of a message is cognitively more difficult than simply accepting that the message is true -- it requires additional motivational and cognitive resources. If the topic is not very important to you or you have other things on your mind, misinformation is more likely to take hold.

And when we do take the time to thoughtfully evaluate incoming information, there are only a few features that we are likely to pay attention to: Does the information fit with other things I believe in? Does it make a coherent story with what I already know? Does it come from a credible source? Do others believe it?

Misinformation is especially sticky when it conforms to our preexisting political, religious, or social point of view. Because of this, ideology and personal worldviews can be especially difficult obstacles to overcome.
Even worse, efforts to retract misinformation often backfire, paradoxically amplifying the effect of the erroneous belief.

"This persistence of misinformation has fairly alarming implications in a democracy because people may base decisions on information that, at some level, they know to be false," says Lewandowsky. "At an individual level, misinformation about health issues -- for example, unwarranted fears regarding vaccinations or unwarranted trust in alternative medicine -- can do a lot of damage. At a societal level, persistent misinformation about political issues (e.g., Obama's health care reform) can create considerable harm. On a global scale, misinformation about climate change is currently delaying mitigative action."

Though misinformation may be difficult to correct, all is not lost. According to Lewandowsky, "psychological science has the potential to counteract all those harms by educating people and communicators about the power of misinformation and how to meet it."

In their report, Lewandowsky and colleagues offer some strategies for setting the record straight.
    Provide people with a narrative that replaces the gap left by false information
    Focus on the facts you want to highlight, rather than the myths
    Make sure that the information you want people to take away is simple and brief
    Consider your audience and the beliefs they are likely to hold
    Strengthen your message through repetition
Research has shown that attempts at "debiasing" can be effective in the real world when based on these evidence-based strategies.

- S. Lewandowsky, U. K. H. Ecker, C. M. Seifert, N. Schwarz, J. Cook. Misinformation and Its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2012; 13 (3)

dany

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Re: Misinformation Sticks & Con Artists Know it (How to Fix

Post30 Sep 2012

No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie ...

- Keene
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ex-l

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Re: Misinformation Sticks & Con Artists Know it (How to Fix

Post30 Sep 2012

Thank you for that ... I'd never heard of M Lamar Keene. I wonder if it work this way round ... "No amount of logic can shatter a faith based on a conscious lie"? ... which would be also fit Brahma Kumarism. Do you think it is correct and appeals to logic are a waste of time? If logic does not work, what does?


Morris Lamar Keene, 1936 - 1996. A spirit medium in Tampa, Florida known as the "Prince of the Spiritualists". He is best known for his 1976 book 'The Psychic Mafia', in which he coined the term "true believer syndrome".

In 1976, Keene co-authored the book in which he admitted that all of his psychic activities were done by fraudulent means. Keene revealed how he got rich by tricking thousands of people in séances, in a quite unsophisticated manner, explaining that his spiritualist clients were easy to fool.

Keene and Spraggett's book caused a storm among his former associates in spiritualist circles and his life was threatened including being shot at more than once.
The true-believer syndrome merits study by science. What is it that compels a person, past all reason, to believe the unbelievable.

[b]How can an otherwise sane individual become so enamored of a fantasy, an imposture, that even after it's exposed in the bright light of day he still clings to it — indeed, clings to it all the harder?


No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie.[/b]

— M. Lamar Keene and Allen Spraggett

Keene considered it to be a cognitive disorder, a category of mental health disorders that primarily affect learning, memory, perception, problem solving ... which open a new book in our understanding of what draws us in and hooks us to Brahma Kumarism!

How to break the spell then?

dany

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Re: Misinformation Sticks & Con Artists Know it (How to Fix

Post01 Oct 2012

ex-l wrote:Which open a new book in our understanding of what draws in and hooks us to Brahma Kumarism !
How to break the spell then ?

This is a big question which I do not really have an answer to!

Spirituality is a world of pure fantasy and illusions, invented by certain people to attract followers and most importantly get rich.

At least The prince of Spirituality (M.Lamar Keene) had the courage to expose the so called "spiritualists" in his book "The Psychic Mafia", and to also confess that all his psychic and seance activities were done by fraudulent means.

I hope and wish that Jayanti, in the bright light of day, will also have some courage and honesty to step forward, apologise to all Ex and existing BKWSU followers, for having deceived them by BK teachings and fraudulent ideology, and declare the BKWSU transformation into a charitable organization.

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