Samuel Woolley

Samuel Woolley, a disinformation expert, joins Katie Joseff, a misinformation researcher, and Michael Schwalbe, a postdoctoral fellow studying polarization. They discuss the newly identified cognitive distortion called concordance over truth bias, which leads people to favor information that aligns with their beliefs. The conversation dives into how psychological factors influence susceptibility to fake news, the challenges of identifying biases, and the implications of misinformation in a polarized society. Their insights urge a call for critical thinking and intellectual humility.

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.

In this discussion, Samuel Woolley, an expert on disinformation, highlights the challenges generative AI poses to democratic processes. Lindsay Gorman reveals how deepfakes can manipulate electoral narratives and the global implications. Scott Babwah Brennen emphasizes the need for effective AI content labels in political ads to maintain candidate trust. The conversation addresses regulatory hurdles and the urgent necessity for policies to combat the misuse of AI, especially as elections approach, pointing towards a future where misinformation could be even more pervasive.