The modern internet provides unlimited access to information, conversation, and debate. However, among the freedoms it confers is the opportunity to select which information one wants to view (or not view), the sources to get it from, and which groups to converse with. While this can facilitate collaborations between people that would otherwise have difficulty finding one another, it also makes it possible for people to isolate themselves from opposing information and ideas, and find groups with whom to create a false reality which stubbornly opposes the facts and reasons of the outside world.
Several cognitive biases can influence one’s construction of reality when using the internet. The availability heuristic is the phenomenon by which people are more likely to believe as true those statements which are most memorable – e.g. vivid, strange, or emotionally-charged. A related idea is confirmation bias, in which people are more likely to search out, interpret, and remember information in ways that confirm their pre-existing beliefs. Preferentially remembering information which is compatible with what one believes makes that information more available, and therefore more likely to be believed as true according to the availability heuristic. In-group bias is a phenomenon in which we are likely to give preferential treatment to people who we see as being in our group. For example, we would be more likely to believe what they say to be true – an effect which is compounded by our seeking out like-minded groups via confirmation bias. Finally, reactance is the urge to oppose (in belief or behavior) what someone wants of us when we perceive that person to be trying to control us – for example, an opposing political party or corporation seeking to influence our decisions for profit.
These biases have given rise to several popular theories in the last few years which are both demonstrably irrational and unrelenting. For example, a 1998 paper in the medical journal The Lancet claimed that vaccination caused autism in children [1], creating a panic which resulted in the formation of online communities and ultimately conspiracy theories about pharmaceutical companies trying to control the public. The emotionally-charged nature of the claim made the belief unshakable for many, arguably due to the availability heuristic, by which frightening ideas may seem more true. Reactance may explain why these communities feel a righteous obligation to oppose what they view as a conspiracy by pharmaceutical companies who manufacture vaccines to control public perception for profit. Confirmation bias has contributed to the lasting popularity of forums such as vaccinetruth.com and vaclib.org, where people who are still panicked over this false threat can have their feelings confirmed, even after The Lancet fully retracted the paper. Nonetheless, as Newsweek reported recently, “To a small group of parents, [the original paper’s author is] a hero who won’t back down from his assertion that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine can cause autism.” [2]
The potential to inform oneself on the internet cannot be overstated – that said, this opportunity must also come with a responsibility to seek the truth objectively, rather than to simply seek the comfort of false certainty. Interacting with people of opposing views and interests can be difficult, boring, or upsetting – but it also provides the opportunity to have our understanding of the world and other people challenged and expanded.
- Wakefield, A. (1998). Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet, 351(9103), 641-641. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- Ziv, S. (2015, February 10). Andrew Wakefield, Father of the Anti-Vaccine Movement, Responds to the Current Measles Outbreak for the First Time. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
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