Data and misinformation
Summary
Misinformation = honest mistake.
Disinformation = deliberate intention to deceive.
Objective truth = backed up by an abundance of sources.
Subjective truth = backed up by some sources.
Emotional truth = information that feels true.
Artificial amplification = fake followers and fake likes. This makes a false trending: the
artificial amplification of online traffic to create the illusion of popularity and support.
Topic 1: Framing.
Framing: media provide a focus and environment for reporting a story, influencing how
audiences will understand and evaluate it.
Agenda setting: media do not tell us what to think, but rather what to think about.
There are 3 basic assumptions to agenda setting:
1. Media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads to perceive those issues as more
important than other issues.
2. The importance of issues in the news is the major determinant of the public’s perception
of what matters.
3. The press and media do not reflect reality: they filter and shape it.
One big example of agenda setting is the Chapel Hill study (1968).
During this study they found that what was covered in the news directly affected voters’
attitude and beliefs. Issues that were covered in the news were perceived as more
important by voters.
The cognitive effects of agenda setting are that media concentration on a few issues leads to
the public perceiving those issues as more important than other issues. This occurs through
a cognitive process called accessibility. This implies that the more frequently and prominent
the media cover a certain issue, the more accessible it becomes in peoples’ minds.
Scheufele et al. (2014) found that the psychological approach to framing is based on two
assumptions:
1. Equivalence framing: framing refers to different modes of presentation for the exact
same information. Example: out of 200 passengers on the airplane, 100 of them died during
the crash. Or: out of 200 passengers on the airplane, 50% survived.
2. Emphasis framing: framing often leads to complete suppression of ambiguity in conscious
perception. Putting emphasis on certain information while ignoring other information.
Example: when a new car enters the market, one could say: it has a strong motor and speeds
up from 0 to 100 in 3 seconds (speed/social frame), or one could say: it’s a clean car for a
low price (monetary frame).
Priming: often an extension of agenda setting. If media coverage makes an issue more
salient in peoples’ minds, this issue is also more likely to be used as one of the standards by
which governments/politicians are judged. Agenda setting and priming are accessibility-
based. The relevant nodes in peoples’ minds get activated. As a result, these nodes are more
accessible and retrievable from memory when we have to make decisions. Therefore, they
are more likely to influence our attitudes and beliefs.
, Framing is also an applicability effect. We want to make sense of seemingly unrelated
information by detecting underlying patterns that are consistent with preexisting schemas in
our minds. For example, this figure can be considered as the number 13 in a series of
numbers, while it can also be considered as the letter B in a series of letters.
In general, people seem to follow the direction of the frame used by the messenger.
Degeling & Koolen (2021) studied the effects of locality framing vs. global framing on
residents of the Dutch town Hoek van Holland for local consequences of anthropogenic
climate change (ACC). They made two infographics: one with a local frame (e.g., the map of
Hoek van Holland) and one with a global frame (e.g., the map of the world), and emphasized
the sea level rise on both of them. These infographics were shown to residents of Hoek van
Holland, a town close to the Dutch shore. Degeling and Koolen wanted to study what the
effect of both infographics is and if this effect would be moderated by demographic
variables (gender, age, income, educational level, political orientation, and religiosity). They
found that locally framed infographics lead to a more positive attitude than the globally
framed infographic. This means that residents of Hoek van Holland were concerned more
about the sea level rise when they were shown a locally framed infographic than they were
shown a globally framed infographic. This effect was not moderated by any of the
demographics. Therefore, locality framing can be effective for a diverse audience.
Topic 2: Misleading data.
Chambers (2017) wrote a book about the 7 deadly sins of psychology. The first chapter is
about bias.
Confirmation bias: we seek out and favor evidence that agrees with our existing beliefs
while ignoring or devaluing evidence that doesn’t. ‘Yes-man’ has existed since the 5th
century BC: when a person finds something agreeable, they accept it without argument. But
when they find something disagreeable, they will bring against it all the forces of logic and
reason. In result, people look for hypotheses that confirm rather than falsify. In other words:
people prefer asking questions to which the answer is yes than to which the answer is no.
This is illustrated by Wason’s Selection Task (1968).
E K 2 3
Imagine that these are four cards. The rule is as followed: if a card has a vowel on one side,
then it has an even number on the other side. Which cards do you choose to turn to test this
rule, without unnecessary cards being turned over?
Many participants choose to turn the 2. However, the rule doesn’t say that only cards with a
vowel (klinker) on it can have an even number on the other side. Therefore, it would make
more sense to turn the E over and confirm the rule. However, you can also falsify the rule by
turning the 3. This last option is often neglected.
A reason for the existence of the confirmation bias might be because humans tend to rely on
memories that are most easily retrieved to fill in the gaps of incomplete information about
the world – the availability heuristic. Moreover, throughout our upbringing we are taught to
defend and justify our beliefs we hold and are taught less to challenge them.
Summary
Misinformation = honest mistake.
Disinformation = deliberate intention to deceive.
Objective truth = backed up by an abundance of sources.
Subjective truth = backed up by some sources.
Emotional truth = information that feels true.
Artificial amplification = fake followers and fake likes. This makes a false trending: the
artificial amplification of online traffic to create the illusion of popularity and support.
Topic 1: Framing.
Framing: media provide a focus and environment for reporting a story, influencing how
audiences will understand and evaluate it.
Agenda setting: media do not tell us what to think, but rather what to think about.
There are 3 basic assumptions to agenda setting:
1. Media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads to perceive those issues as more
important than other issues.
2. The importance of issues in the news is the major determinant of the public’s perception
of what matters.
3. The press and media do not reflect reality: they filter and shape it.
One big example of agenda setting is the Chapel Hill study (1968).
During this study they found that what was covered in the news directly affected voters’
attitude and beliefs. Issues that were covered in the news were perceived as more
important by voters.
The cognitive effects of agenda setting are that media concentration on a few issues leads to
the public perceiving those issues as more important than other issues. This occurs through
a cognitive process called accessibility. This implies that the more frequently and prominent
the media cover a certain issue, the more accessible it becomes in peoples’ minds.
Scheufele et al. (2014) found that the psychological approach to framing is based on two
assumptions:
1. Equivalence framing: framing refers to different modes of presentation for the exact
same information. Example: out of 200 passengers on the airplane, 100 of them died during
the crash. Or: out of 200 passengers on the airplane, 50% survived.
2. Emphasis framing: framing often leads to complete suppression of ambiguity in conscious
perception. Putting emphasis on certain information while ignoring other information.
Example: when a new car enters the market, one could say: it has a strong motor and speeds
up from 0 to 100 in 3 seconds (speed/social frame), or one could say: it’s a clean car for a
low price (monetary frame).
Priming: often an extension of agenda setting. If media coverage makes an issue more
salient in peoples’ minds, this issue is also more likely to be used as one of the standards by
which governments/politicians are judged. Agenda setting and priming are accessibility-
based. The relevant nodes in peoples’ minds get activated. As a result, these nodes are more
accessible and retrievable from memory when we have to make decisions. Therefore, they
are more likely to influence our attitudes and beliefs.
, Framing is also an applicability effect. We want to make sense of seemingly unrelated
information by detecting underlying patterns that are consistent with preexisting schemas in
our minds. For example, this figure can be considered as the number 13 in a series of
numbers, while it can also be considered as the letter B in a series of letters.
In general, people seem to follow the direction of the frame used by the messenger.
Degeling & Koolen (2021) studied the effects of locality framing vs. global framing on
residents of the Dutch town Hoek van Holland for local consequences of anthropogenic
climate change (ACC). They made two infographics: one with a local frame (e.g., the map of
Hoek van Holland) and one with a global frame (e.g., the map of the world), and emphasized
the sea level rise on both of them. These infographics were shown to residents of Hoek van
Holland, a town close to the Dutch shore. Degeling and Koolen wanted to study what the
effect of both infographics is and if this effect would be moderated by demographic
variables (gender, age, income, educational level, political orientation, and religiosity). They
found that locally framed infographics lead to a more positive attitude than the globally
framed infographic. This means that residents of Hoek van Holland were concerned more
about the sea level rise when they were shown a locally framed infographic than they were
shown a globally framed infographic. This effect was not moderated by any of the
demographics. Therefore, locality framing can be effective for a diverse audience.
Topic 2: Misleading data.
Chambers (2017) wrote a book about the 7 deadly sins of psychology. The first chapter is
about bias.
Confirmation bias: we seek out and favor evidence that agrees with our existing beliefs
while ignoring or devaluing evidence that doesn’t. ‘Yes-man’ has existed since the 5th
century BC: when a person finds something agreeable, they accept it without argument. But
when they find something disagreeable, they will bring against it all the forces of logic and
reason. In result, people look for hypotheses that confirm rather than falsify. In other words:
people prefer asking questions to which the answer is yes than to which the answer is no.
This is illustrated by Wason’s Selection Task (1968).
E K 2 3
Imagine that these are four cards. The rule is as followed: if a card has a vowel on one side,
then it has an even number on the other side. Which cards do you choose to turn to test this
rule, without unnecessary cards being turned over?
Many participants choose to turn the 2. However, the rule doesn’t say that only cards with a
vowel (klinker) on it can have an even number on the other side. Therefore, it would make
more sense to turn the E over and confirm the rule. However, you can also falsify the rule by
turning the 3. This last option is often neglected.
A reason for the existence of the confirmation bias might be because humans tend to rely on
memories that are most easily retrieved to fill in the gaps of incomplete information about
the world – the availability heuristic. Moreover, throughout our upbringing we are taught to
defend and justify our beliefs we hold and are taught less to challenge them.
