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Buckeye_Democrat

(14,846 posts)
Mon May 25, 2020, 02:32 AM May 2020

It's official. Fox News followers are stupid.

The scientists worded it more politely...

Cognitive Ability and Vulnerability to Fake News
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/cognitive-ability-and-vulnerability-to-fake-news?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Among other things in the study (which also tested the subjects being told something repeatedly and the effects among different people):

The subjects in the experimental condition initially rated Nathalie much more negatively than did the subjects in the control condition. This was not surprising, considering that they had just learned she was a thief and a drug dealer. The interesting question was whether cognitive ability would predict attitude adjustment—that is, the degree to which the subjects in the experimental condition would rate Nathalie more favorably after being told that this information was false. It did: subjects high in cognitive ability adjusted their ratings more than did those lower in cognitive ability. The subjects with lower cognitive ability had more trouble shaking their negative first impression of Nathalie. This was true even after the researchers statistically controlled for the subjects’ level of open-mindedness (their willingness to change their mind when wrong) and right-wing authoritarianism (their intolerance toward others), as assessed by the personality test. Thus, even if a person was open-minded and tolerant, a low level of cognitive ability put them at risk for being unjustifiably harsh in their second evaluation of Nathalie...

... Research on cognitive aging indicates that, in adulthood, this ability declines considerably with advancing age, suggesting that older adults may also be especially vulnerable to fake news.
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It's official. Fox News followers are stupid. (Original Post) Buckeye_Democrat May 2020 OP
Unfortunately, the current-day version of Fox is social media..... KY_EnviroGuy May 2020 #1
WHO is this news to? OH, well... OK... Brainfodder May 2020 #2

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
1. Unfortunately, the current-day version of Fox is social media.....
Mon May 25, 2020, 05:17 AM
May 2020

where lies and deceptions run rampant globally 24/7 and it can affect all ages. Viewers of Fox are not able to participate instantly in mass spreading of the right-wing disease as they can on social media. Twitter and Facebook are the fascist's dream come true and I suspect Fox is becoming old hat with a relatively limited audience.

Fox and the right wing in general take full advantage of several subgroups of people who are not mentally and emotionally well-rounded; i.e, those who are narrow minded, intolerant, bigoted, brainwashed by religion or political dogma and those for which wealth has distorted their vision of self-worth (it helps tremendously to have the big money boys on your side).

I don't believe most Fox viewers are stupid because by definition that means very low intelligence. Most I've known are quite smart, having succeeded at their jobs or businesses and social life. However, almost every one is narrow minded and hard-headed as if they are intellectually under the thumb of authoritarian structures including the political right-wing, churches, and/or the cult of high wealth. In other words, much of their ability to think is controlled by external forces.

Interesting article and thanks for posting.

KY............

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