Judging truth

Wed Nov 25, 2020 · 113 words

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In Judging Truth (Annual Review of Psychology), the authors make the claim that truth judgments are constructed and reflect inferences drawn from 3 types of information:

1. Base rates
2. Feelings
3. Consistency with information retrieved from memory

Each of the three inferences usually increases accuracy.

However, specific kinds of errors can result from each class of inference.

1. People tend to accept incoming information from the environment as true.
2. People tend to interpret feelings as evidence of truth.
3. People tend to favor consistency with facts and memory.

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See also

1. American abyss
2. Information-action fallacy
3. The constitution of knowledge
4. Wanna bet?
5. Writing is the only thing that matters
6. How disinformation hacks your brain