Cognitive Immunology in the News
Scientific American:There’s a Psychological ‘Vaccine’ against Misinformation
SCIAM editor Daisy Yuhas conducts this excellent interview with CIRCE research affiliate Sander van der Linden about his new book Foolproof. Definitely worth a read...
Prebunking Now Being Used at Scale to Combat Disinformation
This NPR article details some cutting-edge efforts to inoculate vulnerable minds against manipulative messaging. The story? Pre-bunking has arrived as an essential tool in the fight against cognitive contagion.
The Role of Cognitive Contagion in Fomenting the Jan. 6th Insurrection
This well-researched article underscores the role that cognitive contagion played in almost ending American democracy. The big election lie isn't just false--it's a malicious mind-parasite that was deliberately released into a population compromised by weaponized cynicism. The resulting infodemic almost brought the American experiment in self-rule to an end.
The War on Pineapple
This astonishingly good podcast tells the tale of how a deliberate campaign of mind inoculation prevented the big election lie from corrupting the thinking of hundreds of election officials--and how this in turn saved American democracy from a mind-virus. Highly recommended!
Disinformation? There are Remedies for That
Two emerging sciences promise better solutions to our world's disinformation problem. In this piece for Psychiatric Times, A. Norman, H. Eyre and W. Hynes lay out the case for investing in cognitive immunology and infodemiology (March 2022)
The Economist: Reality Against Putin
This analysis in The Economist highlights the role of inoculation theory in the NATO alliance's successful effort to combat Russian disinformation about Ukraine. It cites Andy Norman's work on mental immunity. (Feb 2022)
How the White House "Prebunked" Putin's Lies
Here, Lee McIntyre and Andy Norman illuminate the scientific underpinnings of the Biden administration's successful preemption of Vladimir Putin's (false) Ukraine narrative. "Prebunking" can be used against domestic disinformation threats, too. (March 2022)
Honing Your BS Detector: Conspiracy Theories and the SLAP Test
This Skeptical Inquirer article by Jeannie Banks Thomas offers some useful rules of thumb for spotting manipulative content. (Jan 2022)
Jennifer Rubin Recommends Preemption of GOP Election Lies
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin here explains why it's so important to begin inoculating against GOP election lies. (Jan 2022)
The Country Inoculating Against Disinformation
This BBC article tells the story of how Estonia, a tiny Baltic country, developed a sophisticated capacity to combat disinformation. (Jan 2022)
A Guide to Prebunking: How to Inoculate Against Misinformation
First Draft is a nonprofit with a mission very like CIRCE's. They put together this excellent guide to prebunking. (June 2022)
Can "Inoculation" Build Broad-Based Resistance to Misinformation?
Jigsaw researchers put together this excellent overview of mind-inoculation and its potential to help us address our world's misinformation problem. (March 2021)
Ten Ways to Combat Misinformation
The Institute for Public Relations authored this useful guide to combatting misinformation. Ten solid tips. (May 2019)