Randy Stein, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Alexander Swan, Eureka College, and Michelle Sarraf, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
How much weight would you put on a scientist’s expertise versus the opinion of a random stranger? People on either end of the political spectrum decide differently what seems true.
The CDC has put out several conflicting messages of late, giving rise to concerns about trust.
Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
The CDC has released conflicting messages on masks and transmission of the coronavirus. A scholar explains the nature of trust and why institutions need to be careful.
The more politicized an issue, the harder it is for people to absorb contradictory evidence.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images News via Getty Images
Whether in situations relating to scientific consensus, economic history or current political events, denialism has its roots in what psychologists call ‘motivated reasoning.’
President Donald Trump, flanked by administration and public health officials, during a briefing on the coronavirus on March 25.
Getty/Mandel Ngan / AFP
Journalism’s ethics code says the press must ‘seek truth and report it,’ and also minimize harm. During a public health crisis, how should the press deal with President Trump’s inaccuracies and lies?
Understandings of truth may be found in the Muses’ words.
Jacopo Tintoretto's The Muses/Wikpedia
Is making sense of a story more important than getting at its truth? Looking at the treatment of myth in ancient Greece may help us navigate what is true, and whether that matters.
Convictions are where beliefs meet identity. But that can lead to trouble. Our supercharged politics make giving up a conviction feel like an act of self-betrayal and a betrayal of our tribe.
Political fissures extend to the TV screen.
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We know that social media platforms have an incentive to promote whatever gets the most attention, regardless of its authenticity. We’re more reluctant to admit that the same is true of people.
Three philosophers put up a booth at the entrance to a New York City subway, so people could come to them with questions. They got hit with some real zingers.
Doubting Thomas needed the proof, just like a scientist, and now is a cautionary Biblical example.
Caravaggio/Wikimedia Commons
An evolutionary biologist makes the case that there’s no reconciling science and religion. In the search for truth, one tests hypotheses while the other relies on faith.
Does your body give away if you’re lying or not?
AP Photo/Edward Kitch
Cognitive psychologists know the way our minds work means we not only don’t notice errors and misinformation we know are wrong, we also then remember them as true.
Donald Trump posts a link to his very own ‘Real News Update’ on Facebook.
Donald J. Trump/Facebook
The best defence against post-truth politics is not ‘the truth’. Democracy should resist the political tyranny of claims to some immutable truth as a basis for governing the lives of others.
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Lecturer on Bioethics & Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University; and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine; Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Psychiatric Times., Tufts University