In his article “Why Facebook Makes us Dumber”, Cass R. Sunstein answers the questions, Why is fake news shared so rapidly on social media, why it doesn't get corrected, and why people accept lies when the truth is so readily available.
Mr. Sunstein wrote how according to a new study the reason is confirmation bias: people search for information that confirms their beliefs and avoid information that disagrees with their point of view.
This bias played a huge role in the creation of online groups where conspiracy theories and various positions on international affairs and the presidential election are shared.
A study by Michela Del Vicario of Italy’s Laboratory of Computational Social Science studied the way that Facebook users reacted with each other between 2010 and 2014. The goal of the study was to test a much-debated question. Do people share different views? Or do they create a wall like barrier and surround themselves only with those who share their opinion.
The study used thirty-two public
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Del Vicario and Her coauthors wrote that “users mostly tend to select and share content according to a specific narrative, and to ignore the rest.” This resulted in the creation of “homogeneous, polarized clusters.” Within those groups, the information would spread rapidly among friends. The result was the “proliferation of biased narratives fomented by unsubstantiated rumors, mistrust, and paranoia.” Although the study was of Facebook users, Mr. Sunstein believes that this happens on all social media platforms as well as in person. Del Vicario, however, did not mention “group polarization,” which is when people with similar beliefs speak among each other the result is they end up with an even more extreme version belief. When false information is spread in these clusters, it also increases the person's belief in the false