Fighting the Backfire Effect and

Promoting Truth in Public Discourse

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky

- Co-Founder and President, Intentional Insights

- Tenure-track Professor, The Ohio State University

- Author of forthcoming book: The Alternative to Alternative Facts: Fighting Post-Truth Politics with Behaviors Science

- Lead Author of the Pro-Truth Pledge

Trust in Fact-Checking

Organizations

• Rasmussen Report poll: “Voters Don’t

Trust Media Fact-Checking” 9/30/2016

• 29% of all likely voters trust fact-checking

• 88% of voters who support Trump do not

trust fact-checking

• 59% of Clinton supporters trust fact-

checking

Confirmation Bias

• People look for and

interpret information

in ways that confirms

their current beliefs

Backfire Effect

• A psychological

phenomenon where

people not simply

reject facts that

contradict their

established beliefs,

but also hold stronger

to reassuring lies

Avoid Emotional Triggering

• Defensiveness

• Aggression

Positive Emotional Connection

• Empathy & Curiosity

• Emotional Validation

• Lead to:

– positive emotional

connection

– personal credibility

Shared Goals

• Establish shared goals

• Be allies

• Work together to reach

your goals

Show Commitment to Truth

• Demonstrate your own

commitment to truth

above all

• Express desire to

change your mind

based on evidence

• Ask people to hold you

accountable

• Only then, proceed

with logic

Pro-Truth Pledge

• Project to roll back tide

of lies and fight for truth

in public discourse

• Pledge-takers commit

to 12 truth-oriented

behaviors

• Combines crowd-

sourcing and

behavioral science

Pro-Truth Pledge: Share Truth

• Verify: fact-check information to confirm it is true before accepting and sharing it

• Balance: share the whole truth, even if some aspects do not support my opinion

• Cite: share my sources so that others can verify my information

• Clarify: distinguish between my opinion and the facts

Pro-Truth Pledge: Honor Truth

• Acknowledge: acknowledge when others share true information, even when we disagree otherwise

• Reevaluate: reevaluate if my information is challenged, retract it if I cannot verify it

• Defend: defend others when they come under attack for sharing true information, even when we disagree otherwise

• Align: align my opinions and my actions with true information

Pro-Truth Pledge: Encourage Truth

• Fix: ask people to retract information that reliable sources have disproved even if they are my allies

• Educate: compassionately inform those around me to stop using unreliable sources even if these sources support my opinion

• Defer: recognize the opinions of experts as more likely to be accurate when the facts are disputed

• Celebrate: celebrate those who retract incorrect statements and update their beliefs toward the truth

What Does the Pledge Consider

Misinformation?• Misinformation is anything that

conveys information in an obviously deceptive way that leads audiences to have the wrong impression of the facts

• In some cases, such misinformation is obvious, so that any reasonable external observer – in this case, fellow pledge-takers who evaluate each other – can see it

• In other cases, it is less so, and for those tough calls the pledge relies on two things:– credible fact-checking sites (the

same as used by Facebook for its fake news checking program)

– the scientific consensus

Rewards and Accountability

• Public figures and organizations that take pledge are rewarded with positive reputation boost

• Private citizens who take pledge hold accountable public figures and organizations through evaluation process

• Like Better Business Bureau but for truth instead of business practices

So Sign Up!• Every person who signs up

gives incentive to more public figures and organizations to sign up, since it’s more of a reputation boost

• Anyone who signs gets access to training on promoting truth and a community of fellow truth-oriented people from all walks of life

• Anyone who signs casts a vote for truth in public discourse, one informed by behavioral science research on this question

• So will you cast that vote?

Thank You!

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky

gleb@intentionalinsights.org

Personal Website GlebTsipursky.com

InIn Webiste intentionalinsights.org

Pledge Website ProTruthPledge.org

Twitter twitter.com/Gleb_Tsipursky

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/dr-gleb-tsipursky-89ab4b23/

PowerPoint of this presentation

slideshare.net/intentionalinsights