You Are Not So Smart 332 - Concordance Over Truth Bias (rebroadcast)
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Feb 2, 2026 Michael Schwalb, Stanford social psychologist studying polarization; Katie Joseff, social neuroscience researcher on partisanship and misinformation; Samuel Woolley, professor of computational propaganda and disinformation. They discuss a new cognitive distortion called concordance over truth bias. Short takes cover how political alignment beats factual accuracy, study design and surprising predictors, and why interventions and platform policy matter.
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Algorithms Manufacture Consensus
- Social media and algorithms concentrate information into silos that amplify certain perspectives and reduce objectivity.
- Samuel Woolley shows these computational tools manufacture consensus and shape public opinion at scale.
Business Incentives Fuel Misinformation
- Platforms monetize attention and defend metrics like daily active users, which disincentivizes removing fake accounts.
- Katie Joseff warns that surveillance-driven ad systems amplify generated persuasive accounts for profit.
Concordance Beats Truth In Sharing
- Partisan concordance influenced belief and sharing more than headline truth in their preregistered study.
- Michael Schwalb reports political alignment swamped factual accuracy up to about twice as strongly.
