From Ufo To Covid

From UFOs to COVID conspiracy theories, we all struggle with the 'tru... about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Ffrom-ufo...
theconversation.com
From UFOs to COVID conspiracy

theories, we all struggle with the
'truth out there'
Robert Hoffmann
6-7 minutos
For ufologists the US government’s eagerly anticipated report of

“unidentified aerial phenomena” may be a major
disappointment. It goes further than any previous report in
admitting unknowns, though conspiracy theorists will likely
dismiss it as a cover-up.
But they aren’t alone in tending to dismiss anything that jars with
their accepted narrative.
Take the “lab leak theory”. In January, for example, the

Washington Post not only called the idea that COVID-19 was
man-made a “debunked fringe theory”. It also called the theory it
originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology a “disputed fringe
theory”.
Facebook banned claims the virus was made in a lab for being
false and debunked in February. It has now reversed that ruling,
with US president Joe Biden ordering his intelligence experts to
“bring us closer to a definitive conclusion” by the end of August.
Leer más: Conspiracy theories on the right, cancel culture on

the left: how political legitimacy came under threat in 2020
1 de 5 13/12/2021 3:42
The issue has been complicated by hyper-partisan media

conflating Facebook’s ban with censorship of the lab-leak
theory. But many also dismissed the lab-leak theory too easily
by conflating it with other conspiracy theories.
Leer más: The COVID-19 lab-leak hypothesis is plausible

because accidents happen. I should know
We’re all prone to accepting one narrative and sticking to it, no

matter the evidence. This problem isn’t just “out there”.
Behavioural research offers some lessons for all us to keep front
and centre.
Seeing what we want to see
Even if we pride ourselves on being independently minded we

can still fall prey to cognitive biases.
Part of this is due to overconfidence in our own decision-making

skills.
This isn’t just the result of the phenomenon known as the

Dunning-Kruger effect – in which we tend to overestimate our
competence in areas in which we are incompetent. Highly
intelligent people are also susceptible to believing highly
irrational ideas, as demonstrated by the list of Nobel prize-
winning scientists who have embraced scientifically
questionable beliefs.
Part of it also has to do with believing what we want to be true.
We settle on most of our opinions through nothing better than

snap judgement or instincts. Our internal “press secretary” – a
mental module that convinces us of our own infallibility – then
justifies our reasons for holding those opinions after the fact.
2 de 5 13/12/2021 3:42
Behavioural scientists call this motivated reasoning – when your

personal preferences cloud your grasp on reality.
As Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book Blink: The Power of

Thinking Without Thinking (Little, Brown, 2005): “Our selection
decisions are a good deal less rational than we think.”
Most of us are overconfident about our own decision-making skills.

lyas Tayfun Salci/Shutterstock
How long is a piece of string? You tell me
One cognitive bias that is especially amplified by social media is

good old-fashioned conformism.
The potency of conformist thinking was graphically

demonstrated by psychologist Solomon Asch in his classic 1956
study showing we can even disregard the evidence of our own
eyes when it contradicts the majority view.
Asch assembled groups of participants and had them judge

which of three numbered lines had the same length as a target
line.
3 de 5 13/12/2021 3:42
Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment line comparison. Wikimedia

Commons, CC BY-SA
Which numbered line is the same length as the one on the left?
The answer should be easy. But in Asch’s group only one
person was a real participant. The six others were “stooges”,
instructed to sometimes give the same, patently wrong answer
before the subject of the experiment answered.
The result: about a third of the time subjects went along with the
majority view, though it was clearly wrong. The painful lesson:
we are social creatures, swayed by the group, even willing to
sacrifice the truth just to fit in.
Locked in the echo chamber
Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites can reinforce all
the above instincts through creating “echo chambers” that
validate what we chose to believe.
Exposure to different ideas does not fit well with the economics
of online media – in which platforms, and content creators on
those platforms, fight for limited attention by appealing to
4 de 5 13/12/2021 3:42
preferences and prejudices.
We enjoy echo chambers.
According to psychologist Jonathan Haidt, we appear to be born

with a “self-righteousness gene” – an inherent need to be right.
We are more prone to defend our opinions by criticising others.
We find comfort in validation.
Once we have made our opinion known to others, we are

doggedly reluctant to change course. Seeming consistent can
become more important than seeming right, so we will go to
great lengths to shore up opinions that come under scrutiny.
These foibles might be endearing if they didn’t have such

serious implications. Believing in misinformation is an
undeniable problem.
Leer más: Coronavirus misinformation is a global issue, but

which myth you fall for likely depends on where you live
But we are going to need a different way to deal with conspiracy

theories than simply trying to ban them. Seeking to enforce a
single accepted narrative is not the solution.
If Facebook or mainstream media are the arbiters of who gets

heard and who does not, then we will be pushed more towards
our own filter bubbles, and conspiracy theorists towards theirs.
5 de 5 13/12/2021 3:42

From Ufo To Covid

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From UFOs to COVID conspiracy theories, we all struggle with the 'tru... about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Ffrom-ufo...

From UFOs to COVID conspiracy

For ufologists the US government’s eagerly anticipated report of

Take the “lab leak theory”. In January, for example, the

Leer más: Conspiracy theories on the right, cancel culture on

The issue has been complicated by hyper-partisan media

Leer más: The COVID-19 lab-leak hypothesis is plausible

We’re all prone to accepting one narrative and sticking to it, no

Seeing what we want to see

Even if we pride ourselves on being independently minded we

Part of this is due to overconfidence in our own decision-making

This isn’t just the result of the phenomenon known as the

Part of it also has to do with believing what we want to be true.

We settle on most of our opinions through nothing better than

Behavioural scientists call this motivated reasoning – when your

As Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book Blink: The Power of

Most of us are overconfident about our own decision-making skills.

How long is a piece of string? You tell me

One cognitive bias that is especially amplified by social media is

The potency of conformist thinking was graphically

Asch assembled groups of participants and had them judge

Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment line comparison. Wikimedia

Locked in the echo chamber

preferences and prejudices.

We enjoy echo chambers.

According to psychologist Jonathan Haidt, we appear to be born

Once we have made our opinion known to others, we are

These foibles might be endearing if they didn’t have such

Leer más: Coronavirus misinformation is a global issue, but

But we are going to need a different way to deal with conspiracy

If Facebook or mainstream media are the arbiters of who gets

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