7 Reasons Why We Fall for Fake News

This has been in my bookmarks for a bit. I wanted to dig more into the research, and the post got lost somewhere after I tried to get a psychology textbook.

The article is layered out well and provides some interesting sources (hence the book I still want to get):

  1. Confirmation bias: information that confirms our existing beliefs. Breaking out of the circle is hard.
  2. Lack of credibility evaluation: we believe our news without checking it (ties to 4).
  3. Attention and impatience: We read information fast and fall for “hooks” without understanding the whole.
  4. We are cognitively lazy: Our brains have evolved to conserve energy (ties to 2).
  5. Our emotions are targeted: emotions make thinking irrational.
  6. Reiteration: the illusory truth effect: the more we are exposed to certain information, the more we are likely to believe that information.
  7. Social pressure: need I explain this one?

This is the same author who wrote 10 Ways to Spot Fake News, which is another good read.