Teaching slides for "What is Information" by Keren Wang Section VI - Misinformation Spring, 2022

1. MISINFORMATION
Digital photography by Keren Wang 2020
“What is Information” teaching slides,
Keren Wang, SP 2022
kuw148@psu.edu

2. Friday, April 22:
CAS170 Guest Lecture
by
Jamie P. Horsley
Senior Fellow, Yale University Paul
Tsai China Center
“Data Governance and The
Chinese Social Credit System”

3. Misinformation: a complex phenomenon
Psychological: problems in decoding information
● Ex: assumptions, biases, misinterpretation
Semantic: problems in encoding information
● Ex: ambiguity, fallacies, inaccuracy
Social: problems in circulating information between groups and individuals
● Ex: conformity, social influence, lost in translation, media bias, propaganda, rumor
Physical & environmental
● Ex: communication blackout, background noise, generation loss, technology
breakdown
Keren Wang, SP 2022

4. Psychology of
misinformation:
MEMORY ERROR
Misinformation effect: tendency for
post-event information to “rewrite” the
original memory of the event.
Absentmindedness: low attention;
hyperfocus; distraction
Confabulation: tendency to produce false
memories at both individual and collective
levels
Misattribution: correct information but
incorrect source attribution
Transience: forgetting over time
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Antonio Canova
Keren Wang, SP 2022

5. Psychology of
misinformation:
COGNITIVE BIAS
Anchoring: tendency hold one’s belief when presented with
contradicting evidence
Apophenia: tendency to draw connections b/w unrelated
information
Confirmation bias: tendency to search for and consume
information selectively, in a way that confirms our
preconceptions
Dissonance: tendency to simultaneously hold contradictory or
incompatible views and beliefs
Embodied cognition: tendency to process information
differently based on the physical state of our body
Framing: tendency to draw different conclusions from the
same information
Misattribution: correct information but incorrect source
attribution
Keren Wang, SP 2022

6. Sociology of
misinformation
Conformity: tendency to align our values,
behavior, and belief with collective normative
standards
Compliance: tendency to appear to agree with
others but and keep our dissenting opinions private
Identification: tendency to change our belief and
behavior due to the influence of those we admire
or identify with
Internalization: tendency to be influenced by
those who are closest and most important to us
Social contagion: behavior, emotions, and rumors
spreading spontaneously via social interactions
Propaganda: see previous lessons
Keren Wang, SP 2022

7. Sociology of
misinformation
in “always-on”
society
Non-human social actors: bots, AI, generated
contents…
Swarm behavior: brigading, DDoS, doxing, memes,
troll-farming…
Hyperreal time: rapid, continuous, automated
production, dissemination, and reconfiguration of
discourse fracture and accelerate the unfolding of
real-time events.
Hypermediated, polycentric space: echo chambers,
filter bubbles, internet sovereignty…
Keren Wang, SP 2022

8. Semantics of
misinformation:
STYLE
Ambiguity
● “Robot Expert Joins University Faculty”
● “NJ Judge Hears Case on Nude Beach”
● “Parliament Tables Bill to End Net Neutrality”
Vagueness & Abstraction
● “U.S. official labels Russia ‘America’s biggest
geopolitical foe.’”
● “Free trade is good for the economy”
● “If Ukraine Fails, 'the Free World Will Fail'”
Inaccuracy
● “Two thirds of our students are irreligious: 66% of
surveyed freshmen say they do not believe in any
God.”
Keren Wang, SP 2022

9. Semantics of
misinformation:
FALLACIES
Equivocation (Doublespeak):
● Enhanced interrogation technique (torture)
● Free exposure (unpaid labor); workforce optimization (layoffs)
● Special military operation to perform peacekeeping duties (invasion)
False attribution: “Vulpes News Channel is a fair-and-balanced news
source, because it has over 20 million loyal viewers.”
False Dilemma: “Spending billions of dollars each year on our space
program is the pinnacle of waste when so many Americans are struggling
with food insecurity”
Irrelevant authority: “Dr. Samantha Harrison, a distinguished
neuroscientist, explains why free-trade is a good idea.”
Red Herring: “I understand you want to know what happened at our
embassy in Libya. What is really important is to talk about whether the
government has enough cash flow to stay open through the month”
Many more…
Keren Wang, SP 2022

10. Embodied cognition case study:
Enclothed Cognition & White Coat
Syndrome
Enclothed Cognition [1]: “physically wearing a lab
coat increased selective attention compared to not
wearing a lab coat”
White coat syndrome [2]: elevated blood pressure
and anxiety level in formal “white coat” clinical
interactions
Keren Wang CAS 420 Lecture Slides
Keren Wang, SP 2022

11. Narrative
Consumption
and invention
“[A]s narrative consumption
motivates the excessive
consumption of the kind
shown by the desperate child
consumers of Bikkuriman
stickers, it also bears within it
the possibility of a new stage
wherein consumers
themselves begin to create
commodities and consume
them on their own terms."
Otsuka Eiji, Narrative Consumption
Keren Wang, SP 2022

12. Historical connection
between periods of
intensive “witch-hunting”
practices and the reduced
food security in early
modern Europe and North
America
(Wolfgang Behringer, A Cultural
History of Climate)
Figure 2.9 – Illustration from 1744 depicting “convicted” slaves
being burned at the stake after the New York violent
crackdown of 1741. Thirteen black men were burned alive at
the stake a little east on Magazine Street. (Gilder Lehrman
Collection)
Keren Wang CAS 420 Lecture Slides

13. Thought Experiment: Alternate History US Invasion Scenario
Psychological:
↳ Anchoring: upholding one’s strongly held belief irrespective of contradicting evidence
↪ Confirmation bias → framing ⇄ apophenia ⇄ misattribution → dissonance ↺
↳ Misinformation effect: post-event information to rewriting original memory and belief
Sociological:
↳ Conformity → Identification ⇄ Internalization → Compliance ↺
↳ Social contagion ⇄ Propaganda
↪ Swarm behavior ⇄ echo chambers ⇄ filter bubbles ⇄ hyperreality ↺
Semantic:
↳ Semantic noises: ambiguity ⇄ vagueness & abstraction ⇄ inaccuracy
↳ Fallacies: doublespeak ⇄ false attribution ⇄ false dilemma ⇄ red Herring
Physical & Environmental: communication blackout ⇄ fog of war ⇄ technology breakdown …
Keren Wang, SP 2022

14. COVID 19 Crisis and
Misinformation
Keren Wang, SP 2022