In this episode of Outrage Science Bites, we explore two cognitive biases that can trick us into believing things that aren't true: truth bias and the illusory truth effect.
Truth bias is the tendency of our brains to initially tag incoming information as true. This can make us more vulnerable to misinformation and manipulation.
The illusory truth effect is the tendency to believe information is true if we hear it repeated a lot. This is why fake news and propaganda can be so effective.
We can combat these biases by being more critical of the information we encounter. We should ask ourselves:
Is this information from a trusted source?
Does it sound too good to be true?
Is there corroborating evidence from other sources?
We should also be mindful of the frequency with which we encounter information. If we see something repeated a lot, we should be skeptical of its veracity.
Key Points:
Our brains are wired to believe information by default.
This can make us vulnerable to misinformation and manipulation.
We can combat these biases by being more critical of the information we encounter.
Additional Resources:
Outrage Overload Podcast: https://outrageoverload.net/
Truth Bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_bias
Illusory Truth Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_truth_effect
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