Cultural construction of dis/misinformation

I’ve discussed previously how dis/misinformation is socially produced and consumed. However, there are cultural nuances to dis/misinformation that are worth exploring. Culture can be defined as the collective attitude of a group of people. My personal understanding of culture comes from Hofstede, who describes culture variously as the “collective programming of the mind” and as the “software of the mind” which allows us to determine which social groups a person might or might not belong to (2011, 2010). Dis/misinformation can become embedded in this collective programming and persist easily, often with unfavourable consequences. Such dis/misinformation can be further perpetuated through social homogeneity (Torres, Gerhart, & Negahban, 2018). 

Elsewhere, cultural disinformation is practised (often at scale) for entertainment. Internet trolls are a “manifestation of everyday sadism,” who create disinformation because they enjoy the controversy that it generates (Buckels, Trapnell, & Paulhus, 2014, p. 97). Unlike social disinformation, this form of cultural disinformation is easy to identify as it is often at odds with established scientific or social consensus - it exists to be provocative. Nonetheless, disinformation of this kind easily establishes itself as ‘fact.’ So what do we do about it? Swire and Ecker (2018) recommend six mechanisms by which cultural disinformation in mass media can be countered, including: 

• Providing factual alternatives, 
• Boosting retrieval of retraction information, 
• Using refutation as an educational tool, 
• Building credibility, 
• Providing self-affirming corrections, and 
• Fostering scepticism. 

I think there is a place for us to use these strategies in metaliteracy-building activities to help our users identify and avoid dis/misinformation. At the very least, making an effort to inculcate scepticism can’t hurt. Wouldn't you agree?

Buckels, E. E., Trapnell, P. D., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Trolls just want to have fun. Personality and Individual Differences, 67, 97–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.016

Hofstede, G. H., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations : software of the mind : intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Hofstede, G. (2011). Culture’s consequences : comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Swire, B., & Ecker, U. (2018). Misinformation and its correction: Cognitive mechanisms and recommendations for mass communication. In E. A. Thorson, B. G. Southwell, & L. Sheble (Eds.), Misinformation and Mass Audiences (pp. 195–211). Austin: University of Texas Press.

Torres, R. R., Gerhart, N., & Negahban, A. (2018). Combating fake news: an investigation of information verification behaviors on social networking sites. 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) 2018, Honolulu, 3976–3985. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10125/50387