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  • Misbelief

  • What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things
  • By: Dan Ariely
  • Narrated by: Simon Jones
  • Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (21 ratings)

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Misbelief

By: Dan Ariely
Narrated by: Simon Jones
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Summary

'Thoughtful, moving and well-written' - Yuval Noah Harari

'An urgent examination of the human attraction to misinformation' - Daniel H. Pink

Misinformation affects us daily, from social media to politics and even personal relationships. Policing social media alone cannot solve the complex problem shaped by partisan politics and subjective interpretations of truth.

In Misbelief social scientist Dan Ariely explores the behaviour of 'misbelief' that leads people to distrust accepted truths and embrace conspiracy theories. Misinformation taps into something innate in all of us, regardless of political affiliation. By understanding this psychology, we can mitigate its effects. Grounded in research and Ariely's personal experience as a target of disinformation, the book analyses the psychological drivers behind adopting irrational beliefs. Ariely reveals the emotional, cognitive, personality, and social elements that drive people towards false information and mistrust.

Despite advanced AI generating convincing fake news, Ariely offers hope. Awareness of the forces fuelling misbelief makes individuals and society more resilient. Combating misbelief requires empathy, not conflict. Recognising misbelief as a human problem allows us to be part of the solution.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Dan Ariely (P)2023 Bonnier Books UK
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Enlightening

Brilliant as always from Dan. Certainly gives me some pointers for me to help my friends and family, not to mention my own teenagers!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but perhaps one-sided

The suggestions at the end seem to suggest that practices like government censorship would, like seatbelts in a car, help keep people safe… no mention of examples like Teflon, Purdue pharma etc where scepticism would have mistakenly been classed as ‘misbelief’ for years.

The mention of the FDA secretly editing public databases due to foreign actors inserting misinformation is interesting… if citizens suggested foreign governments were doing this would they not be classed as ‘misbelievers’ by anyone following the suggestions in this book?

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A little self awareness goes a long way

Have read previous books by Ariely. Similarly to those the flow and pacing is good but this book shows a real lack of self awareness. Lots of othering without much consideration of how the author himself might fall foul of misbelief. Never once considering whether those he comes across may have a better reading on reality than himself. If the insights he amassed had been applied to realise where he had been wrong in the past about…well…anything, this may have made for a more compelling read.

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Mixed feelings about this book

I found myself going from: not being very convinced, to being very interested, to not being very convinced etc.

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