Sander van der Linden

“Whereas lies and fake news tend to be simple and sticky, science is often presented as nuanced and complex.”
― Sander Van Der Linden, Foolproof: Why We Fall for Misinformation and How to Build Immunity

“One way to incentivize accuracy over social motivations when it comes to matters of fact is to pay people for the correct answer. That’s right: facts are for sale. In these experiments people are often told that the more answers they get correct (including political questions), the higher the pay. So, what happens when money is on the table? Well, more people answered the factual questions correctly. We have replicated these findings in our own lab as well. When you offer partisans (committed members of a political party) a monetary reward for giving correct answers, they make fewer errors, and this reduces political bias on both sides. This implies that at least some people initially answered based on their political motivations, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know the actual answer.¶ When properly incentivized, people are willing to temporarily forego their ideological commitments. But paying the whole population to be accurate could get quite expensive, so how about just using evidence?”
― Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity