Tag

misinformation

Entries tagged with misinformation - exploring this theme across cognitive biases, logical fallacies, mental models, and more.

11 concepts

Apophenia

The tendency to perceive meaningful connections, patterns, or intentions in random or unrelated information.

We give disproportionate weight to the opinions of people we perceive as authorities - even outside their expertise.

When correcting someone's false belief makes them believe it even more strongly.

The tendency to prefer complex explanations over simple ones, and to mistrust simple solutions to problems that feel complicated.

We seek out information that supports what we already believe, and ignore what doesn't.

Presenting two sides as equally valid when the evidence overwhelmingly supports one.

Treating two things as equally valid or important when they clearly aren't.

Repeat something often enough and people start to believe it - not because it's true, but because it's familiar.

When media systems produce public agreement with elite interests - not through censorship, but through structure.

When despair is deliberately cultivated to stop people from acting - because people who believe nothing can change won't try to change anything.

When a claim gets cited so often that people assume it's been proven - even though the evidence behind it is thin or nonexistent.