This study is out of my comfort zone, but it made me smile: lawyers find simplified legal documents easier to understand, more appealing, and just as enforceable as traditional contracts. So who are we fooling? From the press release: It’s no secret that legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand, causing headaches for anyone who… Read More Interesting: Even lawyers don’t like legalese
Found this tweet via Martin Robinson, and I’m flabbergasted: In 1977, media prophet Marshall McLuhan discussed CIA and FBI surveillance, and then spun it into one of the most mind-bending comments on identity in the digital age I've ever heard. pic.twitter.com/gDWVJa4Anh — Benjamin Carlson (@bfcarlson) May 10, 2023
This is a new and interesting approach to dealing with misinformation: redirecting an individual’s attention away from misinformation and toward other beliefs can be just as effective as debunking it. From the press release: It’s tempting to argue with someone who is misinformed by showing them studies and articles that prove they’re wrong. But new… Read More Another way of dealing with misinformation instead of debunking: bypassing it
This study shares practical insights that sometimes have been known for a while in the science of science communication, such as the importance of language that is easier to process, which can encourage continued reading. But the study also adds some other elements that can help to keep reading: a language that evokes anxious, exciting,… Read More How language shapes attention
This new study examined the influence of how data is represented. It seems that the format in which graphs are presented may be biasing people into being too optimistic or pessimistic about the trends the graphs display. The essence? Academics found that when people made predictions about how a trend would develop over time, they… Read More Bar charts versus line graphs
My two favourite muppets are Statler and Waldorf, and this new study shows that maybe they have hidden superpowers. When people are in a negative mood, they may be quicker to spot inconsistencies in things they read. But… when you actually read the study, it’s rather about Miss Piggy, as there were only female participants.… Read More How a negative mood can help you spot inconsistencies
This study by Morosoli et al was published a couple of months ago in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. To answer the question in the title of this post, the researchers surveyed over 7000 people in 6 countries (Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, the UK and the U.S.) to check what… Read More Why do people engage with conspiracy theories online?
This is a study that got me surprised, to be honest. It found that older adults are no more likely to fall for fake news than younger adults, with age-related susceptibility to deceptive news evident only among those categorized as the ‘oldest old.’ A couple of elements to consider: the study was conducted during the… Read More No, older adults seem not to be more likely to fall for fake news than younger adults
This is an interesting new study by Dr. Julia Brailovskaia and her team, although some limitations are obvious. The researchers compared 3 groups to know how much less smartphone use per day is good for us. They compared: the effect of complete smartphone abstinence versus a reduction in time spent daily looking at the screen… Read More How much less smartphone use per day is good for us.
From experience to meaning... 