"The effect of misinformation on memory and reasoning cannot be completely eliminated"

[bhikkhu]

"The effect of misinformation on memory and reasoning cannot be completely eliminated, even after it has been corrected numerous times, say Australian psychologists.

Assistant Professor Ullrich Ecker and colleagues from The University of Western Australia outline their findings in a recent article published in Psychonomic Bulletin and Review .

Ecker says this effect, known as 'continued influence effect of misinformation', occurs even if the retraction itself is understood, believed, and remembered."

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/07/11/3265013.htm

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A very interesting article, well worth reading on its own merits.

It also points out one of the problems here I see from time to time, where the repetition of "anonymous accounts", which later turn out to be maliciously false, nevertheless seem to leave long-term impressions upon people. One hates, or is unable to extend trust - its a feeling that can't be shaken, but can't be justified by facts.

[Adsos Letter]

1. Bookmarking for later. Thanks!

I think propaganda relies on this element.

[JuniperLea]

2. This is the MO of Pox News...

Catapult the propaganda.

This is why it's so important to take back the media! The 'Press' as noted in our Constitution is asleep at the switch... except for the purveyors of lies... the aforementioned POX on our society!

[markpkessinger]

7. The good folks at Fox have read, marked and inwardly digested their Goebbels n/t

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

-Joseph Goebbels

[Zorra]

3. I have concluded that most conservatives are hopelessy brainwashed.

Nice to have some scientific validation for this conclusion.

[snot]

4. K&R'd.

[Uncle Joe]

5. I believe this is a good column, basically covering how the subconscious works but I disagree

with the final assumption re: the impact of emotion, their own statements even seem contradictory.

Ecker says they have also studied a number of other factors such as strongly-held beliefs (worldview) and emotion on the continued influence effect.
While emotion was found to have no significant effect, someone with a strong opinion is unlikely to change it.

"If you believe in something strongly and it's really important to you as a person you will cling to that no matter what," Ecker remarks.
He says one example of this is climate change.

"People who believe strongly in the free market, those opposed to any kind of regulations … will be much more likely to continue to believe humans are not causing climate change even in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that humans are causing climate change."

Strong belief is intricately tied to emotion, PTSD being one example of extreme imprinting, emotion is what cements the memories to the subconscious.

I believe that's why in the case of climate change, the detractors use cynical derision and suspicion to question the motives of the messengers instead of debating the scientific evidence, they're arguing on an emotional level. That's why the propaganda was pushed by the corporate media for the better part of two years with the same lie being repeated that "Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet" this wasn't a logical assertion but one based on and aimed at emotion, in an attempt (successful to a large extent) of sowing emotional, knee jerk distrust; this equates to the emotion of fear.

Thanks for the thread, bhikkhu.

[bhikkhu]

6. I see the point there

...strong beliefs are often enforced by emotional extortion, more or less.

It is interesting, thinking of how talk radio and fox and the RW in general, how much time and effort goes into policing the herd mentality, in spite of the motif of rugged individualism and self-reliance.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. I wonder how representative test subjects can be in this area

The particular experiment this article talks about had 160 undergraduate subjects. But undergraduates are already a certain group of society; even though there's large variation in them, they still have in common a somewhat higher than average ability and desire to learn. And even if you recruit from as wide a section of society as possible, it would seem, to me, that volunteer subjects are always going to be more curious about knowledge than average; and that's an attitude that is pretty close to what's being tested.

[B Calm]

9. Between FOX, am Talk, and don't forget the Church. .