“Unlike the soldier, a scout’s goal isn’t to defend one side over the other. It’s to go out, survey the territory, and come back with as accurate a map as possible. Regardless of what they hope to be the case, above all, the scout wants to know what’s actually true.” Continue reading Summary of, “The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t”
The above is a humorous look at the mantra, “do your own research,” held by many anti-vaxxers, Q-Anoners, and conspiracy theorists of various stripes. Continue reading Should You Do Your Own Research?
superb essay about the proliferation of conspiracy theories online was published at 3 Quarks Daily on . Continue reading The Millions Of Christs Of America
© Darrell Arnold Ph.D.– (Reprinted with Permission)
Joseph Uscinski’s Conspiracy Theories: A Primer
© Darrell Arnold Ph.D.– (Reprinted with Permission)
I first heard about the “backfire effect” in a work by Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
