The South Florida influencers, for instance, heard a rumor circulating that the government had put microchips in the coronavirus vaccine so it could track people.
Notice that many fake news stories begin from a place of fear. This fear hijacks our brains and triggers fight or flight options in our system I circuitry and actively prevent the use of the rational parts of system II which would quickly reveal problems in the information.
24:30 “one second decision”
26:30 navy seals in cold water (during hell week), mind goes “fight or flight”
28:00 calming the mind in these fight or flight situations
many experience a freeze response (fear and inability to act), or indeed a flight response - avoiding the problem altogether.While it can feel counter-intuitive, meeting climate dismissives with compassion can go a long way and help them break free from denial.
Vieira, J., Schellhaas, S., Enström, E., & Olsson, A. (2020, May 17). Help or Flight? Increased threat imminence promotes defensive helping in humans. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/bckn3