The Reasons We All Fall For Fake News

Regardless, of gender, age, or political persuasion, we all fall for fake news. Not You? Listen in as MIT trained science writer, Matthew Hutson, discusses how and why we are all increasingly susceptible to believing misinformation. Drawing upon his recent article in Psychology Today, "How Memory Became Weaponized," Matthew Hutson discusses the flaws of human memory, our evolutionary tendency to believe what we see, and the attack on our memories with algorithms used by marketers, trolls, or anyone with an agenda they want believed. He discusses the many ways that our memories are assaulted by factors like the speed of information dissemination, the purposeful mixing of fake news with real news, or the repetition of false headlines or images which capitalize on our tendency to believe what we see and remember what we believe. Importantly, he shares strategies to "fend off fakery." Frightening and fascinating. Listen in and Call in.