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How to Fight ‘Fake News’ (Warning: It Isn’t Easy)
The New York Times: No, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is not being discontinued. No, Earth will not be plunged into darkness for 15 days. And, no, Katy Perry did not broker peace with the Islamic State. Those are a few of the falsehoods spread online that are in need of debunking in this age of “fake news,” when misinformation seems to appear from nothing and reaches hurricane-force speeds in an instant. Researchers have spent decades trying to understand how such misinformation spreads and, now, a review of their work offers new guidance for the journalists, fact-checkers and others working to find, and defend, the truth.
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THE TRICK TO DEBUNKING FAKE NEWS
Pacific Standard: The ultimate weapon against such disinformation would be a less credulous public. But given our tendency to believe "facts" that confirm our biases—and for startling but unverified assertions to stick in our brains—is that really possible? Can fake news be successfully debunked? Just-published research offers no panacea, but it does provide some concrete suggestions. "The effect of misinformation is very strong," said co-author Dolores Albarracin, a psychologist at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.
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Taking Photos Improves Certain Kinds of Memories and Weakens Others
Big Think: I lived in East Asia from 2009 to 2011. At that time, I visited five countries: China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand. As you can imagine, I took a ton of photos, the best of which were loaded to my social media pages, so that my friends and family could be a part of it, and see what I was seeing. But I always wondered if all those shots added to my enjoyment and deepened my memories, or by being preoccupied taking them, degraded my appreciation and recollection. A recent study out of The Wharton School of business has the answer. Professor Alix Barasch went through a similar line of questioning.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of new research exploring: affective flexibility and depression; decentering, affect, and psychopathology; neural response to threat and suicidal attempts; and reward sensitivity in bipolar disorder.
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If You Think Everyone Else Has More Friends, You’re Not Alone
NPR: When you feel like everyone around you is having more fun and spending more time with friends, it can make you feel bad about yourself — even if it's not true. But according to Ashley Whillans, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School who studies how our view of the world affects our view of ourselves, this perception can challenge us to become more social and make more friends. This fear of missing out on parties or events is actually very common. It may be particularly acute among college freshmen because "entering into university is one of the key transition points in your life in establishing your identity in a new social environment," Whillans says.
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Apocalyptic Thoughts Amid Nature’s Chaos? You Could Be Forgiven
The New York Times: Vicious hurricanes all in a row, one having swamped Houston and another about to buzz through Florida after ripping up the Caribbean. Wildfires bursting out all over the West after a season of scorching hot temperatures and years of dryness. And late Thursday night, off the coast of Mexico, a monster of an earthquake. You could be forgiven for thinking apocalyptic thoughts, like the science fiction writer John Scalzi who, surveying the charred and flooded and shaken landscape, declared that this “sure as hell feels like the End Times are getting in a few dress rehearsals right about now.” ...
