Cognitive Bias (media literacy, elearning)

A Window Youth project presentation.

1. WINDOW Y UTH

2. Media literacy Cognitive Bias Session 1. Limited sources of information

3. generates Festinger Cognitive Disonance Proposed by psychologist Leon Festinger , refers to the discomfort or tension that arises when a person holds conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors. Beliefs, attitudes or behabiours conflict DISCONFORT Decreasing Dissonant cognitions Decreasing Importance of Dissonant cognitions Increasing Consonant cognitions Increasing Importance of Consonant cognitions

4. Festinger 1 Remove the dissonant cognition by either changing his behaviour (stop smoking) or knowledge (believe that smoking is actually not bad for health). 2 Reduce the importance of the dissonant cognition by thinking that the risk of getting lung cancer from smoking is lesser than being in a car accident. 3 Increase the amount of consonant cognition by looking for positive effects of smoking. 4 Focus on the benefits of smoking as an important part of his or her life.

5. Brandolini Law It takes significantly more effort to refute or debunk false information or nonsense than it does to create it.

6. "Entities should not be multiplied without necessity.“ Or When faced with two possible explanations, the simpler of the two is the one most likely to be true. Parsimony principle or Occam's razor

7. Examples Festinger Even people with scientific knowledge believe in chemtrails. They reduce cognitive dissonance by seeking information that validates the theory that governments are spraying us. They select the information they read or believe to increase the number of consonant cognitions. For example, if one day there are clouds, no rain, and then they see airplane trails, they consider it evidence that the clouds and rain have been eliminated. Brandolini Understanding how airplane contrails work and interact with the atmosphere is much more difficult than thinking that governments are spraying us viruses. Parsimony Science is parsimonious: a virus mutated in an animal, and when a person ate from that animal, they got infected. The conspiracy that different governments or power groups believe in reducing the population, particularly certain populations, is more complex and allows some people to reduce the dissonance that something so, so serious could have happened due to such an apparently trivial matter.

8. More information Festinger: https://open.ncl.ac.uk/theories/7/cognitive-dissonance-theory/ Brandolini´s Law: https://ordrespontane.blogspot.com/2014/07/brandolinis-law.html Parsimony: https://philosophyterms.com/occams-razor/