Uncertainty and fear are gasoline for rumor

The Austrian Defense Minister, Klaudia Tanner, has taken seriously the threat of a great blackout in the transalpine country and prepares the population for that scenario. Spain is not considering that possibility. The Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has even dismissed it outright, as have numerous experts in the sector.

However, the fear of a lack of power supply The demand for flashlights, bottles and camping gas stoves has skyrocketed in hardware stores, recalling images of the beginning of the pandemic, when what disappeared from supermarkets was toilet paper. Why do we react like this? Who said that a supposed blackout could affect Spain? Why give credibility to what seems like nothing more than a rumor?

For years, the behavioral psychologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 and author of ‘Think fast, think slowly’, Daniel Kahneman, concluded that, in contexts dominated by uncertainty, individuals can reason in a biased way and that this leads them to make unreasonable decisions.

“The brain is lazy and looks for cognitive shortcuts, that is, the easiest way to process a message & rdquor ;, explains following the line of Kahneman the psychologist Rafael Contreras. That process itself is not bad. The problem arises when you systematically resort to these “shortcuts”.

“If we always adapt the information to the previous opinion we have on a topic, without making a critical analysis, in the end that information will be biased, contaminated by our beliefs & rdquor ;. Is the call “Confirmation bias & rdquor ;, the one that tends to take into account only what is in agreement with our ideas.

Critical thinking versus emotional thinking

If critical thinking requires more effort, for example contrasting with different sources, the emotional thinking no. And it is in this last field where hoaxes play with an advantage. “The pandemic or energy shortage generates fear and fear is fuel for hoaxes because messages come more through feelings than rational consciousness,” adds Contreras.

The hoax is a deliberate invention wrapped in a layer of verisimilitude in order to cause harm or discomfort. It works just like a rumor, although, unlike this one, the hoax is always false. “A rumor is born in an environment of uncertainty and confusion. It arises from an anonymous sender, without official verification, and spreads a spontaneous and elusive message that may be innocent, although most of the time it is intentional & rdquor ;, details the Communication consultant Maria Elena Mazo Salmerón.

That means it transforms into a provocative and ambiguous message which, thanks to the internet and social networks, spreads exponentially. “It always begins with ‘it is said’ without the issuer being someone specific. For example: there is going to be a big blackout. Ok but when? How? & Rdquor ;. Another characteristic of the rumor is that it is seductive and awakens the need to tell it. It fulfills a social function.

“It is necessary in the process of cultural adjustment. When a rumor reaches us, telling it reinforces our role within the group. That sociological function explains why it is so successful. Provides approval from the friend group. It is a process of social recognition & rdquor ;, explains Mazo Salmerón.

Educate the critical sense

Contreras recalls that hoaxes are part of human communication and that in all civilizations they have been important, but the fact that there are psychosocial factors explanatory does not force to remain with the arms crossed.

Related news

“Some are dangerous and can cause real harm, as we have seen with the advice to combat the coronavirus with bleach & rdquor ;, adds the psychologist, in favor of educating the critical sense and paying attention to the most vulnerable groups, adolescents and older people who, in general, are less critical of the information that circulates on the network and more permeable to hoaxes.

If a rumor continues to be successful despite the proliferation of arguments that contradict it, you have to act like a firefighter to stop its expansion, make a verification work (fact-checking) and deny it. Although Mazo Salmerón is skeptical and reduces the effectiveness of the denial. “The best thing is to prevent, to have a strategic communication plan with absolutely credible issuers and sources, such as experts or scientists, who put more solid arguments on the table & rdquor ;. In the end, when the message it transmits does not hold up, the hoax or rumor ends up being extinguished.