Abstract

Why do some people believe all the bullshit, while others manage to form more accurate beliefs? One line of psychological theorizing focuses on understanding the role of intuition and deliberation in belief formation. Bringing examples from our research on fake news, conspiracy theories and climate change denial, I will show how deliberation can (or can’t) help people form more accurate beliefs even if accuracy conflicts with their political ideology. In the end, I will show how we leveraged what we uncovered about the role of deliberation to decrease belief in online fake news.

Reference

Bence Bago, “All the BS on the Internet: fake news, climate change denial, conspiracy theories and the psychology of false beliefs.”, IAST Lunch Seminar, Toulouse: IAST, May 26, 2020, 14:00–15:00, room Zoom Meeting.