A brain science expert explains how to deprogram truth-denying Trump supporters

[UCmeNdc]

The Washington Post, one of the most reputable newspapers in the country, wrote that “There’s never been a presidential candidate like Donald Trump—someone so cavalier about the facts and so unwilling to ever admit error, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.” In their rulings on statements made by Trump, the paper’s editors evaluated 64 percent of them as Four Pinocchios, their worst rating. By contrast, statements by other politicians tend to get the worst rating 10 to 20 percent of the time.

snip......


These sentiments are representative of other prominent news media and fact-check outlets, yet according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, most voters on the eve of the election perceived Donald Trump as more trustworthy than Hillary Clinton. This false perception came from the Trump campaign building upon previous Republican criticism of Clinton, much of it misleading and some accurate, to manipulate successfully many voters into believing that Clinton is less honest, in spite of the evidence that she is much more honest than Trump. The Trump campaign did so through the illusory truth effect, a thinking error in our minds that happens when false statements are repeated many times and we begin to see them as true. In other words, just because something is stated several times, we perceive it as more accurate.

You may have noticed the last two sentences in the previous paragraph had the same meaning. The second sentence didn’t provide any new information, but it did cause you to believe my claim more than you did when you read the first sentence.

snip.....

Until recently, people got all their news from mainstream media, which meant they were often exposed to information that they didn’t like because it did not fit their beliefs. The budget cuts and consolidation of media ownership in the last decade resulted in mainstream media getting increasingly less diverse, well described in the 2009 Media Ownership and Concentration in America by Eli Noam. Moreover, according to a 2016 survey by Pew Research Center, many people are increasingly getting their news mainly or only from within their own personalized social media filter bubble, which tends to exclude information that differs from their own beliefs. So their own beliefs are reinforced and it seems that everyone shares the same beliefs as them.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/a-brain-science-expert-explains-how-to-deprogram-truth-denying-trump-supporters/


Democratic Party has to become adapt at this propaganda device.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

1. Rec, This is a very interesting article

It needs to be read in its entirety.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

2. K&R nt

[Dustlawyer]

3. We need to bust up the media oligarchy before it totally destroys this country, not speed it up.

Having industry insiders in charge of the regulatory agencies has resulted in this problem. Look at the Wall Street bank consolidation, oil companies, telecoms, cable companies...

We need another "Trust Buster!"

[lostnfound]

4. Especially good excerpt I put in bold

"To get more conservatives to turn on the intentional system when evaluating political discourse we need to speak to emotions and intuitions—the autopilot system, in other words. We have to get folks to associate positive emotions with the truth first and foremost, before anything else.

To do so, we should understand where these people are coming from and what they care about, validate their emotions and concerns, and only then show, using emotional language, the harm people suffer when they believe in lies. For instance, for those who care about safety and security, we can highlight how it’s important for them to defend themselves against being swindled into taking actions that make the world more dangerous. Those concerned with liberty and independence would be moved by emotional language targeted toward keeping themselves free from being used and manipulated. For those focused on family values, we may speak about trust being abused.

These are strong terms that have deep emotional resonance. Many may be uncomfortable with using such tactics of emotional appeals. We have to remember the end goal of helping people orient toward the truth. This is a case where ends do justify the means. We need to be emotional to help people grow more rational—to make sure that while truth lost the battle, it will win the war.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Yes, those are the same 3 paragraphs I was going to exerpt. This is the key.

It closely relates to George Lakoff's work on framing the issues with the language choices we make.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1017&pid=53710

[NewJeffCT]

8. that's one area where Republicans have been kicking our asses for years

language and framing - Republicans get their daily talking points and are adept at repeating them for the local or national news, on Twitter and anywhere else. Democrats don't have talking points most of the time, and even when they do, many of them go off script and off message.

[dlk]

5. It's Commonly Known in Behavioral Science-When We Hear Something Often Enough, We Believe It

This is the way our brains process information and also why propaganda is so successful. Even more reason for critical thinking skills to be taught every year, at every age.

[librechik]

7. Just FYI to some folks--emotional appeal doesn't work on narcissists/sociopathic types

you can pour your heart out to them with the truth and logic and the most poignant appeals . They'll never get it. They never learned empathy,and they don't want to.

Better to just ignore them,or observe them like test subjects. Emotion is wasted on them.Their sense of righteous victimhood dwarfs anything in the room..