Title The Debunking Handbook
Author John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky
Year Published 2020
Kind of Book Rationality
How strongly I recommend it 10/10
My Impressions This pamphlet is very short and can be found online for free. It offers scientifically based directives for how to change belief. It also introduces the cognitive biases that are oftentimes at play when someone's belief is being challenged
Date Read circa 2020
Practical Takeaways
Learn how people process information
Avoid mentioning the myth you're wishing to correct upfront. Just focus on the facts you wish to communicate
Increase people's familiarity with the facts. Don't try to disprove the myth
Communicate your core fact in the headline
Model for Debunking a Myth when writing an article
Core fact emphasized in the headline
Core facts reinforced in initial text
State the Myth you're debunking
Explaining how the myth misleads
Keep your content lean, mean, and easy to read (information that is easy to process is more likely to be accepted as true)
Use simple language when making arguments
Use short sentences when making arguments
End on a strong and simple message that people will remember and tweet to their friends (eg. 97 out of 100 climate scientists agree that humans are causing global warming)
When you are refuting misinformation only give one argument. Don't give many branching arguments (The Overkill Backfire Effect)
Give the reader the option of 3 levels of analysis for your article
1.Basic short sentences, plain English, graphics
2.Intermediate more technical language and detailed explanations
3.Advanced
Aim to persuade people in the middle not the radical people on the unswayable fringe
Anytime you disprove a myth or belief or misinformation, provide an alternative explanation to fill the whole (People prefer an incorrect model over an incomplete model)
To disprove misinformation; explain why the misinformation was motivated to promote the myth
Use explicit warnings that the upcoming information is false before the mention of a myth, text, or visual cue
Don't present information and then say "oh by the way what I told you is totally false" (Mere exposure effect)
Emphasize the facts not the myth
Use graphics to display the facts you are presenting
Big Ideas
People prefer to have an incorrect model of the world over an incomplete model
Surprising Facts
Information that is easy to process is more likely to be accepted as true
Unknown Terms
Misinformation: "any information that people have acquired that turns out to be incorrect, irrespective of why and how that information was acquired in the first place."-debunking handbook
The Overkill Backfire Effect: The psychological phenomenon where the more counter arguments that are given the less likely they are to sway the person with a conflicting views. This occurs because processing more arguments takes more effort than just considering a few. It could also be the case that the person concludes that if the oppositions side were correct they wouldn't feel the need to give so many arguments as is expressed by Gertrude in Hamlet "The lady doth protest too much methinks"
Disconfirmation Bias: people spend significantly more time and thought actively arguing against opposing arguments
Self-Affirmation Effect: This cognitive bias is the psychological phenomenon whereby people become more receptive to messages and views different to their own after they have spent some time recalling times where they felt good about themselves.