The Department of Cognitive Science
cordially invites you to the public defense of the PhD thesis
Gaming epistemic vigilance
by
Ákos Szegőfi
Friday, SepteMber
12, 1
P.M. CET
Room D001 (CEU,
Quellenstrasse 51, 1100 Vienna)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/94841744072?pwd=5TjG609NPoVWrKpXLGhzb4W1Late6W.1
Meeting ID: 948 4174 4072
Passcode: 229483
PRIMARY SUPERVISOR: Christophe Heintz (CEU)
SECONDARY SUPERVISOR: György Gergely (CEU)
Members of the Dissertation Committee:
Eva Wittenberg, Chair, CEU
Professor
Joe Stubbersfield,
External examiner,
Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Winchester
Professor
Jon Roozenbeek ,
External examiner,
Affiliate Lecturer in Psychology, University of Cambridge
*Anyone not affiliated with CEU wishing to attend in-person in Vienna
must RSVP here
to get access to the lecture hall.
ABSTRACT |How
dangerous are misinformation and disinformation? What effects do they have on beliefs and behaviour, and how can we defend against them? In recent years, two schools of thought have emerged to address these questions. The first school views misinformation
and disinformation as extremely dangerous, arguing that humans are overly gullible or lazy when evaluating communicated information, making them vulnerable to deception. The solution is to enhance people's cognitive abilities and motivation. The second school
holds that humans are epistemically vigilant, misinformation is not a new problem, and has been dealt with throughout history. According to this view, the solutions proposed by the first school have unintended consequences: they can lead people to overestimate
the prevalence of inaccurate beliefs in others, triggering widespread panic about technology and increase social polarization.
This dissertation seeks to bridge these two schools of thought by demonstrating how even epistemically vigilant agents can be deceived through various methods. It then explores how modern
communication environments enable the widespread use of these methods and proposes structural solutions that focus on reshaping these environments rather than attempting to “upgrade” human cognition. “Gaming” epistemic vigilance cuts both ways: epistemic vigilance
can be manipulated malevolently, but it can also be aided through re-structuring communication environments in a way how they would foster the optimal usage of existing cognitive capacities.
The dissertation begins with a literature review that outlines the two schools of thought and the contribution of this research. Chapters 1 and 2 present experimental studies that test
two disinformation methods, documenting their effectiveness. Chapter 3 and 4 analyses the cultural evolution and usage of the "blood libel" conspiracy theory in modern communication environments. Chapter 5 offers a theoretical overview of the history of communication
environments, exploring how structural solutions have been implemented to address
misinformation. Finally, Chapter 6 and 7 present two experiments using social media simulations to test the effectiveness of source-rating systems in combating misinformation.
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