Disinformation campaigns such as fake news have evolved beyond traditional propaganda and are being used in strategic ways. Further, sources of information have changed from traditional media (newspapers, fliers, radio) to multi social media platforms (Twitter, You-Tube, Reddit). This paper addresses how cognitive psychology research related to traditional texts and news discourse applies to information garnered in the changing social media environment and especially false information. Specifically, the memory representations that readers create when they read text and how they are able to integrate complex ideas from multiple sources (including images) are reviewed. An emphasis is placed on the fragility of memory representations such as the susceptibility to information reconstruction and how that vulnerability can interact with disinformation. Potential ways to counter disinformation are explored such as perspective shifting, changing the context, and thinking analytically. In addition, this paper will identifies what gaps need to be addressed in the growing research areas of misinformation and fake news.
Today’s analysts must process increasing amounts of information, including “Twitter-INT” 1 (social information such as Facebook, You-Tube videos, blogs, Twitter), as well as discern threat signatures in “gray zone” or hybrid conflicts distinguished by both aggression and ambiguity. The information environment is characterized by continuous change: the growing volume of data and the speed at which data is created and new influence tactics developed. Rebecca Goolsby wrote, “…the creation of hoaxes, hate speech, and other attempts at crowd manipulation and exploitation reveal the darker side of the social media phenomenon; the targeted “social-cyberattack” is rapidly coming of age.” The goal is to be able to describe, diagnose, and predict actions/behaviors/events based on an environment in which both humans and bots are attempting to influence, in which disinformation is common and curation and fact checking are rare The information environment is changing much faster than the ability of analysts to process and make meaning about actors, events and influence. Learning how to “surf” the information environment, rather than drown in the proverbial big data will require a new approach. Leveraging the fundamentals and “tricks of the trade” used by data scientists/analysts can serve to close the gap. This paper will highlight exemplar methods and tools and provide contextualized examples of how they improve the ability to describe and diagnose, and, ultimately, make meaning.
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