A friendly face can make all the difference when it comes to presenting information… whether that info is right or wrong
DR DEAN BURNETT Neuroscientist Dean explores the nature of dreaming in his latest book Emotional Ignorance (£14.99, Guardian Faber).
COMMENT
The recent prevalence of ‘fake news’ may make it seem like misinformation is a relatively modern invention. But wild claims, falsehoods and conspiracy theories have been part of human culture for about as long as it’s existed. This is because misinformation originates with, and is spread by, other people; and the people factor has a really strong influence.
If you’ve ever had to communicate an important, but complex, issue to a general audience, you’ll be well aware of just how frustrating the people factor can be.
You may have terabytes of the most reliable data, meticulously worked-out rebuttals to any possible argument, the most elegant PowerPoint slides and the full backing of every renowned expert in the relevant field. And yet, you can still be less persuasive than someone whose entire argument is: “A guy I met down the pub told me something different.”
The source of this revered information isn’t always some random stranger in a pub, obviously. Sometimes it’s a friend, or a friend of a friend, or a distant cousin. It may even come from a series of people with ever-more tenuous connections (“My mother’s neighbour’s stepson’s boss’s milkman said…”)
In fairness, the individual source of the information will (supposedly) have some relevant experience or insight. Say you’re discussing the safety of vaccines and end up arguing with someone whose cousin’s roommate “works for a pharmacist.”
In a perfectly sensible, logical world, someone who knows someone that’s loosely affiliated with a vaguely connected field or industry wouldn’t carry the same clout as actual data, or the leading experts in the field. But humans aren’t perfectly sensible, logical creatures and neither is the world we live in.
For all our impressive cognitive powers, how we see the world, and the information we latch onto and retain, are heavily shaped by the instinctive, subconscious and emotional processes that make up much of our brain. And if there’s one thing that engages these subconscious, emotional processes, it’s our fellow humans.
While our brains can and will take in and retain abstract information and raw data
