Gordon Pennycook

There's a psychological reason for that.

In 2015, researcher Gordon Pennycook at the University of Waterloo published a peer-reviewed study to find out who falls for things that are obviously nonsense or fake.

He took sentences that were completely meaningless.

A computer randomly stuck buzzwords together to create these meaningless phrases.

And we must always remember that confirmation bias creeps in where it's least desired.

Researchers Gordon Pennycook and David Rand have found something almost embarrassingly simple in studies of misinformation.

Merely redirecting people's attention toward accuracy, can improve discernment about what they share.

In other words, before asking, is this terrifying? Is this fascinating? Does this explain everything? Ask, is this true? And Joan, you don't have to investigate every single possibility.