Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things

"In this thoughtful, moving, and well-written book, Dan Ariely narrates his personal and professional journey to understand the world of misbelievers and conspiracy theories, and offers insights and tips that will hopefully help all of us protect our fragile social fabric from being torn apart by disinformation and distrust."--Yuval Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens

"Misbelief is an urgent examination of the human attraction to misinformation. This timely book can provide a crucial foundation for building a more empathetic and informed society."--Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Regret

The renowned social scientist, professor, and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational delivers his most urgent and compelling book--an eye-opening exploration of the human side of the misinformation crisis--examining what drives otherwise rational people to adopt deeply irrational beliefs.

Misinformation affects all of us on a daily basis--from social media to larger political challenges, from casual conversations in supermarkets, to even our closest relationships. While we recognize the dangers that misinformation poses, the problem is complex--far beyond what policing social media alone can achieve--and too often our limited solutions are shaped by partisan politics and individual interpretations of truth.

In Misbelief, preeminent social scientist Dan Ariely argues that to understand the irrational appeal of misinformation, we must first understand the behavior of "misbelief"--the psychological and social journey that leads people to mistrust accepted truths, entertain alternative facts, and even embrace full-blown conspiracy theories. Misinformation, it turns out, appeals to something innate in all of us--on the right and the left--and it is only by understanding the psychology of misbelief that we can blunt its effects. Grounded in years of study as well as Ariely's own experience as a target of disinformation, this compelling work of social psychology is a comprehensive analysis of the psychological drivers that cause otherwise rational people to adopt deeply irrational beliefs. Utilizing the latest research, Ariely reveals the key elements--emotional, cognitive, personality, and social--that drive people down the funnel of misbelief and false information, showing how under the right circumstances, anyone can become a misbeliever.

Yet Ariely also offers hope. Even as advanced artificial intelligence has become capable of generating convincing fake news stories at an unprecedented scale, he shows that awareness of these forces fueling misbelief make us, as individuals and as a society, more resilient to its allure. Combating misbelief requires a strategy rooted not in conflict, but in empathy. The sooner we recognize that misbelief is, above all else, a problem of human behavior, the sooner we can become the solution ourselves.

In this urgent guide to navigating our post-truth world, Ariely unpacks the mechanics of misbelief and reveals:

• Psychological Drivers of Misbelief: A look at the four key elements--emotional, cognitive, personality, and social--that can lead even the most rational people toward irrationality.
• The Crisis of Trust: An empathetic investigation into the journey that causes people to mistrust accepted truths and embrace alternative facts.
• Cognitive Biases and Blind Spots: Drawing from his own jarring experience as the target of a conspiracy theory, Ariely reveals the mental shortcuts that make us all vulnerable to false narratives.
• Strategies for a Post-Truth World: Hopeful, actionable strategies for building resilience against fake news and combating disinformation not with conflict, but with empathy.