Research from cognitive psychology shows that people are naturally poor fact checkers and it is very difficult for us to compare things we read or hear to what we already know about a topic. Psychologists believe that there are at least two forces at work.
- First, people have a general bias to believe that things are true.
- Second, people tend to accept information as long as it’s close enough to the correct information.
Source: The Conversation, March 29, 2018.
Detecting and correcting false information is difficult work and requires fighting against the ways our brains like to process information. Critical thinking alone won’t save us. Our psychological quirks put us at risk of falling for misinformation, disinformation and propaganda.
INSIGHTS: Becoming proficient at fact checking is a critical skill for animal health pros. This becomes even more important as we use text, digital records and telehealth platforms to communicate.