Social validation through sharing now substitutes for evidence as credibility

Evidence

What validates the new conspiracism is not evidence but repetition. When Trump tweeted the accusation that President Barack Obama had ordered the FBI to tap his phones in October before the 2016 election, no evidence of the charge was forthcoming. What mattered was not evidence but the number of retweets the president’s post would enjoy: the more retweets, the more credible the charge. Forwarding, reposting, retweeting, and “liking”: these are how doubts are instilled and accusations are validated in the new media. The new conspiracism—all accusation, no evidence—substitutes social validation for scientific validation: if a lot of people are saying it, to use Trump’s signature phrase, then it is true enough. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 15

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to work on reputation systems and ‘social capital as information flow’ — the mechanism by which repetition substitutes for proof parallels how reputations are validated by circulation. — connects to: Beliefs gain validity from social endorsement and shared beliefs create social connection — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 2367; Consensual beliefs gain perceived validity and social connection from being shared; Closed-group message provenance plus social pressure drives viral misinformation sharing — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 353 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Consensual beliefs gain perceived validity and social connection from being shared #corroborates (0.90)
• Repetition substitutes for evidence as validation in new conspiracism #corroborates (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 15
• Conspiracist validation replaces evidence with communal repetition and affirmation. #corroborates (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 303
• Shared delusional claims persist because confirmation is socially rewarded #corroborates (0.88) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 363
• Beliefs gain validity from social endorsement and shared beliefs create social connection #corroborates (0.85) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2367
• Reputation substitutes for truth in scientific and cognitive contexts #corroborates (0.82)
• Unchallenged assertions gain credibility with passive audiences #corroborates (0.80) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 263
• Evidence sharing alone drives groups toward uniform belief without conformity psychology #contradicts (0.78) — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age, 208
• Stereotypes validated through active reaffirmation resist contradictory evidence most strongly #corroborates (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1179
• Closed-group message provenance plus social pressure drives viral misinformation sharing #expands (0.72) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 353
• Social belonging can outweigh the motivation for accuracy #qualifies (0.72) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 122
• Explicit social coercion embedded in messages overrides accuracy motivations. #qualifies (0.72) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 353
• Social media amplifies rather than causes pre-existing biases in susceptible users #expands (0.72)