{"id":31808,"date":"2022-11-07T04:34:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T04:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=31808"},"modified":"2022-11-11T04:31:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T04:31:58","slug":"inoculate-yourself-against-election-misinformation-campaigns-3-essential-reads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/inoculate-yourself-against-election-misinformation-campaigns-3-essential-reads\/","title":{"rendered":"Inoculate yourself against election misinformation campaigns \u2013 3 essential\u00a0reads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeff Inglis<\/a>, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the midterm elections approach, Americans are already being subjected to misinformation campaigns<\/a>, often online, that are intended to provoke confusion<\/a>, anger or even action. When the election is over, it\u2019s almost certain there will be even more misleading material competing for people\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can defend yourself against this onslaught and help curb both the spread and the effect of misinformation. Several scholars have written for The Conversation U.S. about this process, often called \u201cinoculation,\u201d because it prepares your mind to repel infectious, harmful ideas. Here are some of their key pieces of advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Learn about misinformation\u2019s effects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Misinformation not only gives people incorrect material \u2013 it leads them to disbelieve facts. As John Cook<\/a>, a cognitive psychologist at George Mason University, explained: \u201cWhen people were presented with both the facts<\/a> and misinformation about climate change, there was no net change in belief. The two conflicting pieces of information canceled each other out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to explain that \u201cwhen they collide, there\u2019s a burst of heat followed by nothing. This reveals the subtle way that misinformation does damage. It doesn\u2019t just misinform. It stops people believing in facts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Know yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
Identify and stop the lies. NLshop\/iStock via Getty Images Plus<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s useful to note, as social psychology scholar H. Colleen Sinclair<\/a> at Mississippi State University did, that \u201cresearch has found people are more susceptible to misinformation<\/a> that aligns with their preexisting views.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Sinclair recommends, \u201cbe particularly critical of information from groups or people with whom you agree or find yourself aligned \u2013 whether politically, religiously, or by ethnicity or nationality. Remind yourself to look for other points of view, and other sources with information on the same topic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Seek help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xSIkkza9TVI?wmode=transparent&start=0 Russia is not the only source of misinformation, but here is a look at its propaganda machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baltic nations \u2013 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania \u2013 are small countries right next to Russia, and former parts of the Soviet Union. Their people have decades of experience with misinformation campaigns and are among the best in the world at resisting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terry Thompson<\/a>, a cybersecurity scholar at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, explained how: First, they cooperate with other nations to report what\u2019s going on, including \u201canalyz[ing] Russian social media activities<\/a> targeting Baltic nations \u2026 and provid[ing] insight into identifying and detecting Russian disinformation campaigns\u201d so regular citizens can be informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also \u201c\u2018Baltic elves\u2019 \u2013 volunteers who monitor the internet for Russian disinformation\u201d and spread the word, Thompson explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, those nations are part of a collective European Union project that \u201cidentifies disinformation efforts and publicizes accurate information\u201d that disinformation warriors would like to undermine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all part of a wide-ranging effort to help people understand what\u2019s real and what\u2019s out there to mislead them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation\u2019s archives.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff Inglis<\/a>, Freelance Editor, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeff Inglis, The Conversation As the midterm elections approach, Americans are already being subjected to misinformation campaigns, often online, that are intended to provoke confusion, anger or even action. When the election is over, it\u2019s almost certain there will be even more misleading material competing for people\u2019s attention. You can defend yourself against this onslaught […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":31809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[554,5682,9627,2275,5400,12881,1523,12883,2197,9622,12882],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31808"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31845,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31808\/revisions\/31845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}