Coronavirus Conspiracies and Misinformation: What Social Media Companies Are Doing About It
"One of the biases in our brain is novelty bias," said Subbu Vincent, director of the Journalism and Media Ethics program at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. "We’re susceptible to the latest novel-sounding development and are drawn toward it."
He added, "Conspiracy theories exploit knowledge gaps in our minds between the world our brain sees and our fears. When we try to fill gaps quickly and simplistically, we can fall prey."
Complex explanations, Vincent said, require cognitive effort, and the heavy lift can seem less appealing than the "easy" answer.
Subbu Vincent, director of Journalism & Media Ethics quoted on KQED.
Mar 13, 2020