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Ponte Academic Journal
Nov 2016, Volume 72, Issue 11

ON THE ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH TRUTH FROM FALSEHOOD: AN EXPERIMENT WITH MILLIONS OF PARTICIPANTS

Author(s): Pavel N. Prudkov ,Olga N. Rodina

J. Ponte - Nov 2016 - Volume 72 - Issue 11
doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2016.11.30



Abstract:
It seems obvious people are able to distinguish truth and falsehood and they prefer truth. Therefore, totalitarian regimes use tight censorship to impose their distorted views on reality. Since 2013 Russian authorities have attempted to construct a false view on political affairs abroad using intensive propaganda. Most of Russians agree with the propaganda view although tight censorship is absent in Russia. Our goal was to explain this phenomenon. We hypothesized only very rational individuals are able to resist the propaganda and the effect of the propaganda is persistent because the campaign induces positive and negative emotions and its superposition generates a stable state in the mind. We used the tests on anxiety, hostility, self-esteem, rationality, and a special questionnaire on the propaganda. High scores on the rationality test were a main characteristic of individuals disagreed with the propaganda. The factorial analysis of the questionnaire reveals two factors. Psychological variables which negatively correlate with one factor positively correlate with the second one and vice versa. The rationality of people seems overstated.
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