Week 5 - Critical Thinking and Conspiracy Theories
Critical thinking
2-4-6 experiment
In 1960, Wason made a test called the "2-4-6" task to see how people think. He wanted to see if people could guess his rule about groups of three numbers. His rule was simple: the numbers just had to go up in order. However, many people made more complicated guesses and only tested examples that matched their guesses. Wason found out that a lot of people didn't get the right answer. This showed that people often only look for things that confirm what they already believe, which is called confirmation bias.
More information: Wason, Peter (1960). "On The Failure to Eliminate Hypotheses in a Conceptual Task". Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 12 (3): 129–140. 10.1080/17470216008416717 - The test about confirmation bias that was introduced in the lesson.
Examples of cognitive biases
Conspiracy theories
The acronym of the conspiracy thinking
Examples of theories
- Secret societies: New World Order, Illuminati, Reptilians, Freemasonry, ...
- USA: QAnon, 9/11, Pizzagate, ...
- Earth, aliens: Area 51, Fake Moon Landing, Flat Earth...
- Meds and controlling people: Microchips, 5G network, Chemtrails, ...
- Celebrities that are alive: Elvis Presley, Marylin Monroe, Princess Diana, ...
Case study: Birds aren't real
(homework from Oliver)
What happened: The birds are not real. The US government has replaced all of the birds with highly sophisticated surveillance drones used to spy on the citizens. A new movement sprang up in 2017, focused on spreading this message. It was intended as a parody all along, but quite a few people took it seriously. The artist even brought in actors to pose as ‘experts’ or whistleblowers for the Birds Aren’t Real movement. The movement was maintained as real for a long time. [5]
Why it happened: The whole movement was mostly a study of how conspiracies spread, and an art project showing how vulnerable people are to even ridiculous misinformation.
Why it was unintended: The whole thing started off as a joke that one Peter McIndoe made to a couple of his friends. He was recorded, however, and the whole thing spiralled out of control quickly, often reported on as a real movement by news outlets.
Useful sources
- Movie tips about conspiracy theories - If you like to learn by watching movies, there are some tips from me
- Q conference- video from a YouTube channel that goes around and interviews strange but real Americans, usually across California, and they released one video about a QAnon gathering.