Fake news works because we yearn to conform
Cailin O'Connor argues that focusing on cognitive failings misses something more important. The more serious problem, as she and co-author James Owen Weatherall argue in their new book, The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread, is our deep-seated need to adhere to community, and then to conform to that community's consensus views. … O'Connor and Weatherall, who both teach the philosophy of science at the University of California–Irvine …. describe the ways that the Internet has intensified this problem, and offer some admittedly radical ideas to combat it.
For the full story, please visit https://psmag.com/education/fake-news-works-because-we-want-to-conform.