Police at the scene of a shooting in Toronto’s Greektown on July 23, 2018. The parents of Faisal Hussain, whose shooting spree left two people dead and 13 injured, say their son had struggled all his life with psychosis and depression, but none of the medications or therapies he tried were able to overcome his mental illness.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
Social media abhors informational vacuums and speed eclipses accuracy. That allows pseudo-experts, agitators and even liars to circulate rumours and poisonous information when big news breaks.
James Hansen testified to Congress in 1988 that warming was caused by pollution and that ‘it is time to stop waffling so much.’
AP Photo/Dennis Cook
A scholar of climate misinformation campaigns explains how, in part, the large gap in public opinion on global warming emerged since a scientist’s landmark clarion call for action.
From left to right: Prince Oguguo, Carol Margaret Bitner, Sharon Crost, Michelle Mielly and Gazi Islam at the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s “Oxford-style debate”, part of the school’s 10th geopolitics festival.
As part of the Grenoble École de Management’s 2018 Geopolitics Festival, four scholars explored the art of debate – an antidote for toxic conversations in the fake-news era.
It’s not clear if Malaysia’s anti-fake news campaign is backed by behavioral science too.
AP Photo/Vincent Thian
Many are wondering what Facebook, Twitter and even the government can do to stop the spread of fake news. Behavioral science has an answer: the Pro-Truth Pledge.
We don’t automatically question information we read or hear.
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Cognitive psychologists know the way our minds work means we not only don’t notice errors and misinformation we know are wrong, we also then remember them as true.
New research shows that vaccination against the deadly Hendra virus in horses does not reduce their racing performance.
Rohingya Muslim women who fled Myanmar for Bangladesh stretch their arms out to collect aid distributed by relief agencies in this September 2017 photo. A campaign of killings, rape and arson attacks by security forces and Buddhist-aligned mobs have sent more than 850,000 of the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya fleeing.
(AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)
Facebook is unwittingly helping fuel a genocide against the Rohingya people in Myanmar. Does Cuba’s internet model provide lessons to manage social media amid political chaos?
Were U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Cuba stricken by a mass delusion?
AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa
Sociologists know what conditions make it more likely a mass delusion will take hold and spread through a group – whether adherence to a fashion fad or belief in a doomsday cult.
Science isn’t cold, hard facts uncovered by emotionless robots. Acknowledging how and where values play a role promotes a more realistic view and can advance science’s reputation for reliability.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg initially dismissed as “crazy” the warnings that Russia had been using Facebook to spread propaganda in the 2016 U.S. election. He has since apologized and introduced plans and tools aimed at fighting false information on the platform. In this file photo, he delivers the commencement address at Harvard University in May.
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
In a fight for the global flow of information, social media firms must be regulated. Their billions of dollars in revenue put their financial interests in conflict with truth and democracy.
Exxon funded climate scientists while the bulk of its public-facing advertorials argued the science and cause of climate change was uncertain.
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
A new study confirms what many already know: Exxon for years sowed uncertainty and doubt about climate change in the public. Should scientists reject certain funding sources?
The message might not come through if you put all your communication eggs in one theoretical basket.
buydeephoto/Shutterstock.com
Reports of facts’ death have been greatly exaggerated. Effective communication jettisons the false dilemma in favor of a more holistic view of how people take in new information on contentious topics.
A shot of fake news now and your defenses are raised in the future?
funnyangel/Shutterstock.com.
Does science have an answer to science denial? Just as being vaccinated protects you from a later full-blown infection, a bit of misinformation explained could help ward off other cases down the road.
Statue of the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Ververidis Vasilis/Shutterstock
Laser-like focus on a tiny, unimportant detail can mean you miss the gorilla in the room – a tactic climate change deniers use to cast doubt on the science.
Lying means you’re actually concerned about the truth.
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