Why Misinformation Feels So Good to Share
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Exploring both interstellar and interpersonal space-time continuums. The Last Show with David Cooper. We all would like to think we're too smart to fall for misinformation, but here's an uncomfortable truth. The stuff that spreads the fastest online often feels like the most satisfying to believe and even more satisfying to share. That stuff is the stuff that's not true. And by spreading it, you're convincing others to spread it. And we're here with someone who's done research into how misinformation spreads. His name is Wes Regan. He's an urban researcher specializing in communication at the University of British Columbia. Wes, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, David. I've seen friends share misinformation online, stuff that I see.
And I'm like, that's obviously not true.
Why does misinformation feel satisfying to share?
I look it up, poorly cited, weird websites. But I don't think that they're evil masterminds. I think they think they're helping. I think they think they're spreading what is true. Why does sharing something like that feel so good in the moment to the people who do?
Yeah, it's a great question. And I think as we have begun to see the effect of misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories on public discourse and on democracy, a lot of research is starting to turn more and more attention to this. And I think there's some really good research coming out of the U.S., Kaylin O'Connor and James Weatherall, for example, had a great book that came out a number of years ago called The Misinformation Age, How False Beliefs Spread. And they really turned attention to the social aspects of this. So a lot of times, we tend to believe that people will believe misinformation or spread misinformation because of personal reasons. But actually, what their work shows and what others have shown is that there are a lot of social factors in this.
It's peer networks, it's belonging, it's professional affiliations, it's political affiliations. And with social media, we've seen audiences segment and go into little bubbles of affirmation where it feels good to be a part of a group of people who believe a certain belief. way or have a certain worldview. And so we're seeing epistemic polarization along with political polarization and people just really finding information that confirms their beliefs often and reaffirms that social connection.
I've talked about this on the show before, but I think it's worth saying again, the definition of misinformation versus disinformation, because the two get used interchangeably and misinformation kind of is the goal of disinformation. But before we get into that, do you want to just give me a brief definition of the two?
Yeah. So misinformation will be just factually incorrect or misleading information that is often shared, as you alluded to in the intro, often shared with good intentions. So we might believe that bracelet is going to prevent COVID or this particular clothing item is going to increase your whatever metabolism or something by X amount, when in fact, there might not be any scientific validation of those claims. And yet you want to help your grandma or mom or friend or whoever it is. And so, you know, or you yourself might want to believe that that's going to help because you're looking for something. And so you might be inclined to share that thinking that this looks credible maybe, or has a whiff of credibility.
So let's go with it. Whereas disinformation would be a little more nefarious and that's often spread by state actors or other powerful interests who are really looking to shape beliefs and discourse and oftentimes with the goal of undermining our trust in democratic institutions or each other for that matter. And I actually specialize mostly in how conspiracy theory beliefs as a form of misinformation or sometimes disinformation can undermine discussions on urban change and what's happening in communities and make it difficult for urban planners to go in and have meaningful discussions about what's happening in cities with people.
Got it.
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