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What I tried to get across in this short segment (starting at roughly 1:50): Very often people try to explain misinformation in terms of factors like a lack of information, irrationality, gullibility, and propaganda. 1/11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000rmdp
In many cases, though, the misinformation is bound up with people's identities, and provides a means of signalling ingroup membership and allegiance... 2/11
In these cases, what looks like irrationality is really strategic: It is a rational response to the fact that people often have a greater interest in ingroup belonging and acceptance than in forming accurate beliefs about the world. 3/11
This means that information campaigns and rational persuasion are unlikely to be very effective. Further, demonising or stigmatising those with misinformed views will typically make things worse... 4/11
Not only will it sharpen their sense of separation from outsiders, but in some cases it is the very fact that beliefs are viewed as ridiculous by outsiders that makes them credible signals of ingroup allegiance. 5/11
A useful analogy here is with religion. Few people expect that you will be able to change people's religious convictions through rational argument and a presentation of scientific data. This misdiagnoses the identity-driven causes of most religious convictions. 6/11
How, then, do you tackle identity-driven misinformation when it has socially toxic consequences? One solution is to try to break the link between the identity and the unfounded belief (e.g., by encouraging influential ingroup members to dissent from the orthodoxy). 7/11
Another solution is to give people access to different and broader identities, i.e., by welcoming them into alternative, more heterogeneous communities. 8/11
If you read the testimony of those who leave fringe/extremist groups, for example, it's almost never because they encountered new evidence or a knockdown argument, but because of the development of bonds with and trust in outgroup members. 9/11
This suggests that certain kinds of misinformation are often best tackled not through counter-information but through more ambitious attempts to create more inclusive communities and societies. 10/11
My views on this topic have been really influenced by loads of great psychologists and philosophers such as @RealFunkhouser, @lisabortolotti, @hugoreasoning and @MariannaBergama who you should follow if you're interested in "irrational" beliefs and misinformation. 11/11
