Knowledge Resistance

Do some people resist truth and find lies attractive?

Title: Books are weapons in the war of ideas Artist: Broder, S. Sponsor: United States. Office of War Information Date: 1942 Photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash

9 March 2024, Volume 2, Issue 9

Cite as: Coleman, Anita S. (2024, March 9). Knowledge Resistance: Do some people resist truth and find lies attractive? Infophilia, a positive psychology of information, 2 (9).

Welcome to Infophilia, a weekly newsletter about the human love of information and one of the places where I’m pioneering a positive psychology of information, an avant-garde research project. March 8 was International Women’s Day. I celebrate it by naming some of the women I am lucky to know who are amazingly strong, inclusive, supportive, and simply fab all around! Their names are in Notes but I give a shout out to Mary Ann Gaido here. She passed away last year, sadly. Welcome new readers! Welcome back, everybody else! As always, thanks for reading!

In 2017, a six-year-old unvaccinated boy in Oregon spent eight grueling weeks in the hospital battling tetanus. His life-threatening ordeal, the first pediatric tetanus case in the state in over 30 years, resulted in a staggering $800,000 hospital bill – approximately 72 times the average cost of a pediatric hospitalization in the U.S! The immense pain, suffering, and financial burden was entirely preventable through vaccination, a scientifically proven solution.

Controversial topics like vaccinations, gun control, and climate change are met with resistance despite data that is grounded in the real world i.e. empirical evidence. This phenomenon is known as knowledge or fact resistance, and we’re beginning to see a lot more of it globally, not just in the United States. While it is easy to dismiss the phenomenon as the result of an unfettered Internet, superabundant information, and uncertain information (part of the human condition!) knowledge resistance is a threat. It has direct and disastrous consequences on health as the Oregon child’s story reveals. It also erodes democracy because it provides fertile ground for conspiracy thinking and disinformation.*** It can destablize the world order and civilization if the rise of authoritarian populist governments around the world (Poland, Brazil, Hungary, India, USA) during the last decade continues.

Increasing our understanding of knowledge resistance is vital and fits the profile of my readers, a people who are intellectually curious, open to new information, and savvy digital media consumers. I am emboldened to write on this topic by some of you and have shared your comments at the end. Thank you! Today’s photo is inspired by another reader’s message: “It always starts with book burnings and banned books.”

The Roots of Knowledge Resistance

I enjoyed teaching Information Behaviors (UCLA, U Arizona Tucson).*

My syllabus included studies from many different disciplines beyond the information sciences. Information needs, uses, users, and systems exist in many different contexts. ‘Selective exposure’ from Media / Communication studies and the psychological concept of ‘confirmation bias’ were two of the topics we explored in the context of citizens’ exposure to political information, and beyond since I was into systems also. Both of these are key contributors to knowledge resistance and forms of intellectual bias. Selective exposure refers to individuals seeking out information that aligns with their existing beliefs. Confirmation bias, on the other hand, is the tendency to remember or recall information that confirms one's beliefs while disregarding contradictory evidence.

These cognitive biases, coupled with the abundance of information and platforms that take advantage of them, have increased knowledge resistance, contributing to polarization, fragmentation, and the popularity and persistence of incorrect beliefs.

Overcoming Knowledge Resistance: Strategies and Insights

Less than a month after my first fall semester had started at U Arizona, 9/11 happened and by the end of it, in my Information Behaviors class I personally experienced the difficulties of changing pre-existing beliefs. My course had a team project requirement and there was a grad student of Palestinian origin in my class who reported that nobody wanted to work with him. Incorrect beliefs about Muslims and terrorism had become racialized, a combination of societal and individual factors that left an indelible impression. We can teach critical thinking and information literacy in school and university (despite their failure sometimes), but what happens after formal education? It is not a coincidence that less than twenty years later knowledge resistance research is an active field. The good news is that we now have a fair amount of research studies that have found various strategies to mitigate resistance towards information that contradicts existing beliefs:

1. Framing - how the argument is framed in terms of worldviews, gain / loss matters

   • Presenting information in a way that aligns with an individual's existing worldview (cultural and social identities, for example) can reduce resistance.

2. Argument Composition - how the argument is composed and presented matters

   • Clear, well-explained arguments and detailed scientific explanations are more effective.

   • Personal stories and case reports can be more convincing than statistics alone.

3. Social Learning - knowledge is social, people do learn from each other, ‘birds of a feather flock together’

   • Engaging with diverse communication networks across political views can decrease bias in interpreting divisive topics.

   • However, highlighting political affiliations can hinder social learning and perpetuate belief polarization.

4. Self-Affirmation - beliefs play a crucial role in shaping identity and self-esteem, a positive self-image

   • Affirming one's self-worth before encountering new, potentially threatening information can reduce emotional discomfort and increase openness to accepting challenging ideas.

   • This strategy has proven effective in health campaigns addressing disease prevention.

While it may not be possible to eliminate all instances of biased thinking, the research indicates that most people can objectively evaluate uncertain information under the right conditions. Accurate information, trust, and corrections help to change beliefs. However, we need more research to deepen our understanding and develop effective strategies to combat knowledge resistance.

By cultivating self-awareness, looking for diverse information and perspectives, and embracing well-framed, clear arguments supported by scientific evidence, we can overcome our barriers of knowledge resistance and embrace truth over deception.

Now, I share feedback from a few readers that are relevant to knowledge resistance.

In Dec. 2023 I said I’d write about cybersecurity and disinformation when in response to my letter From MIT to QAnon: Tracing the Hacker DNA to Participatory Fakery, one reader wrote “You are on the path to explore the Censorship-Industrial Complex.” I’ve been working on that for a while now but am not yet ready to share. This is mostly to say that I’ve not forgotten. If you haven’t heard of the Censorship-Industrial Complex, that’s OK. If you googled the phrase, the first document you probably retrieved is the testimony by Michael Shellenberger to the House, U.S. Congress, 9 March 2023 (exactly a year ago), a 68 pages pdf file. Independent news reporting is continuing to grow as is distrust of mainstream media and the government. More later. Incidentally, in 2018 independents (NPPs, no party preference) became the second largest California voting block.

Another reader replied to my letter on Community Wellbeing is a Wicked Problem: Navigating the Age of Uncertainty in the Happiest Places on Earth thus: “This particular wicked problem is fed (negatively) by the steady stream of dis/misinformation we encounter every day. It splits us, even fragments us, to the point that many of us can't even talk with one another. Above the metrics of socio-economic status, the loss of a social contract is probably the most serious element.”

China’s “Lie-braries” is a short video sent by another reader (pardon the YouTuber’s language!). It does have a promo or two but I found the beautiful American libraries slide deck at the end totally worth it.

Lastly, in response to another reader query on my second post, way back in Sept. 2023, “An Introduction to the Creator Economy: A Revolution in Work and Content Creation,” I promised a follow-up. That’s coming too! Fact checking takes a lot of time :).

Have a great weekend!

Notes

Here’s some of the amazingly strong, inclusive, supportive, and simply fab women in my life: EmKay Anderson, Clara Chu, Jennifer Colón, Angela Cowser, Beth Fujishige, Yvonne Hileman, Farrah Khan, Debra Matthias, Kathleen de la Peña McCook, Aruna Paul, Arlene Senthil, Beryl Smith, and Linda Smith.

*I am very grateful to my teacher Ann Peterson (Bishop) who taught me Information Needs, Uses, and Users at UIUC. I taught it as Information Seeking Behaviors at UCLA and I am grateful to Leah Lievrouw (a communications expert) for sharing her syllabus. My syllabus was a composite of these two great scholars and added my own interests in systems design. I also created an online bibliography that was sought after and became a part of my Knowledge Structures teaching toolkit. There was no textbook by Don Case (or others) like there is now for the then emerging field and we were all so very optimistic and naive about the WWW too!

***Disinformation

What is disinformation? While misinformation refers to the accidental spread of inaccurate information, disinformation is not only inaccurate, but intends to deceive and is spread in order to do serious harm.

Disinformation can be spread by state or non-state actors. It can affect a broad range of human rights, undermining responses to public policies or amplifying tensions in times of emergency or armed conflict.

There is no universally accepted definition of disinformation. No one definition may be sufficient on its own, given the multiple and different contexts in which concerns over disinformation may arise, including with regard to issues as diverse as electoral process, public health, armed conflicts, or climate change. Source: United Nations. Countering Disinformation. https://www.un.org/en/countering-disinformation

Dieckmann, N. F., Gregory, R., Peters, E., & Hartman, R. (2017). Seeing what you want to see: How imprecise uncertainty ranges enhance motivated reasoning. Risk Analysis, 37(3), 471–486. This is the kind of study we need more of.

Guzman-Cottrill, J. A. (2019). Notes from the Field: Tetanus in an Unvaccinated Child — Oregon, 2017. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6809a3

Strömbäck, J., Wikforss, Å., Glüer, K., Lindholm, T., & Oscarsson, H. (2022). Knowledge Resistance in High-Choice Information Environments (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003111474 - this is an edited book, lots of studies, good read and open access. My KR strategies are from their chapter on Selective Exposure and Attention.

Unvaccinated boy nearly died from tetanus. The cost of his care was almost $1 million. (2019, March 9). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/unvaccinated-boy-almost-died-tetanus-hospital-bill-was-more-800-n981256

Wikforss. A. (2021). Resisting the facts. Nobel Prize Museum. 10 slides. https://nobelprizemuseum.se/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Resisting-the-facts_AsaWikforss.pdf