1 option
Individual differences in resistance to truth decay : exploring the role of reasoning and cognitive biases / Luke J. Matthews, Andrew M. Parker, Katherine Grace Carman, Rose Kerber, Jennifer Kavanagh.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Matthews, Luke J., author.
- Parker, Andrew M., author.
- Carman, Katherine Grace, author.
- Kerber, Rose, author.
- Kavanagh, Jennifer, 1981- author.
- Series:
- Countering truth decay
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Human information processing.
- Reasoning (Psychology).
- Judgment.
- Truth--Political aspects--United States.
- Truth.
- Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States.
- Rhetoric.
- Mental Processes.
- Rhetoric--Political aspects.
- United States.
- Medical Subjects:
- Mental Processes.
- Judgment.
- Physical Description:
- xxii, 135 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm.
- Place of Publication:
- Santa Monica, Calif. : RAND Corporation, [2022]
- Summary:
- In this report, the authors address one of Truth Decay's proposed drivers: characteristics of human cognitive processing, such as cognitive biases. The authors describe development of a survey measure that they used to examine characteristics of human cognitive processing (such as cognitive biases) and assess the results for individuals' resistance or susceptibility to Truth Decay. The authors focused on six Truth Decay measures: endorsement of scientific consensus, endorsement of verifiable facts, rejection of false conspiracy theories, distinguishing fact from opinion, willingness to accept expert recommendations, and philosophical positivism versus skepticism. The survey used six measures of cognitive biases and reasoning: numeracy, scientific reasoning, magical reasoning, availability bias, unjustified confidence, and ingroup bias. Generally speaking, greater resistance to Truth Decay on each of the six scales was predicted by greater numeracy, greater scientific reasoning, and less magical reasoning. Among the cognitive biases, greater availability bias was associated with greater susceptibility to false conspiracy theories but also greater trust in experts. Greater unjustified confidence by individuals in their own knowledge was associated with greater trust in experts. Ingroup bias was at times associated with greater susceptibility to Truth Decay (lower endorsement of scientific consensus and verifiable fact, lower philosophical positivism) and at other times associated with greater resistance to Truth Decay (rejecting false conspiracy theories, distinguishing fact from opinion). In terms of demographics, resistance to Truth Decay was most consistently associated with those who had a higher income, those who were White, and those who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
- Contents:
- Chapter One: Introduction
- Chapter Two: Identifying Indicators of Individual Resistance/Susceptibility to Truth Decay
- Chapter Three: Identifying Reasoning Processes and Cognitive Biases Relevant to Resistance/Susceptibility to Truth Decay
- Chapter Four: Survey Administration and Analytic Approach
- Chapter Five: Results
- Chapter Six: Discussion
- Appendix A: Survey Questions
- Appendix B: Scale Characteristics
- Appendix C: Methods.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-142)
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.
- ISBN:
- 1977408923
- 9781977408921
- OCLC:
- 1309040891
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.