Information chaos, false news, dishonesty, lies. These are all words most of us have come across in recent years, especially in connection with political debate, but also the COVID-19 pandemic on the vast expanses of the internet. It has been asserted that elections have been won with information chaos, half truths and fake news so governments all over the world, including the Icelandic one, have formed committees, or even institutions, to tackle this threat - a product of the excessive and endless flow of information online.
This new reality is a big part of a research project called „Insincerity for Fragmented Minds“ (InFraMinds) conducted by Elmar Geir Unnsteinsson, research scientist at the University of Iceland and an associate professor at University College Dublin, with a large group of domestic and international collaborators.
"In short, the research revolves around the connection between lies and hidden opinions. We usually assume that a lie is saying something without believing it. However, research indicate that people's beliefs are quite often hidden, so I might well believe something without realising it," says Elmar.
He mentions hidden prejudices as an example. "This immediately complicates our ideas on lies and dishonesty in spoken language. If I do not know that I am prejudiced towards women, am I then lying when I say I am not? Many will answer no and maintain that a lie involves a discrepancy between what is said and conscious opinions. In this research project I argue the opposite," adds Elmar.
He gives two reasons. "First of all, it has to be possible to lie to oneself - something we call self-deception. If this is true, some lies must be based on unconscious opinions as self-deception does not seem to work unless the opinion is hidden to some extent. Secondly, research indicates that we convince ourselves about something in order to lie better to others. If I want everyone to think I am smart, it is a good start to start by believing it myself so that I do not feel like I am lying when I tell other people. A conscious lie increases the odds of cognitive exertion, which has a few characteristics (longer pauses, eyes blinked less frequently), and the liar can possibly get rid of these tells with self-deception.
Interdisciplinary perspective
All these elements are a part of Elmar's research interests which relate to fundamental questions on language, cognition, communication and meaning. "How it is possible to utter a few sounds to transport - immediately and without much effort - a fully formed thought from your head over to someone else's? Even complex thoughts and feelings that can easily be transported between generations, periods, and cultures. Children acquire this ability incredibly early on and with incredibly limited information. The competence for speech is a remarkable phenomenon that cannot be fully explained unless methods from quite a number of disciplines are applied.
Which is exactly what Elmar does in this study. It involves academics from disciplines that just like philosophy concern themselves with language and communication in some ways; linguistics, psychology and cognitive science. "My background is in interdisciplinary research on language and cognition in philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. I find that the current discourse within philosophy is isolated and not adequately linked into linguistics and psychology, to name an example. I wanted to connect recent research on four phenomena: (i) self-directed speech and the inner voices in psychology (ii) speech acts and communication in the philosophy of language (iii) hidden opinions in the the philosophy of mind, and (iv) mechanical and functional approaches in the philosophy of science and cognitive science. This interdisciplinary point of view has already shed a new light on the subject," says Elmar on the reasons behind the research.
"This study deals with a subject that can be very important socially and politically. We plan to suggest ways to reduce the negative impact of information chaos on the Internet, but we do not pretend to have any final solutions. These ways are based on the theory of dishonesty by showing how real signs of reliability can help people to create trust," says Elmar.
What are the underlying processes that enable us to lie?
Most of us, or even all of us have been insincere or used half truths at some point in our lives. Elmar says that philosophers along with various other groups of research scholars have increasingly focused on dishonesty, insincerity, fake-news, information chaos, and various related phenomena; topics that have been widely discussed in recent years.
One of the focus questions in the study is the cognitive ability or skill that makes it possible for us to learn how to lie as easily as we do. "We maintain that any answer to this question must be based on a general theory on the human ability to communicate, but there are many conflicting theories. "In the project we apply a new method intended to discovery cognitive processes by examining many different models of the same phenomenon. The idea behind the method is to find what these different theories have in common, and thus reach conclusions on the processes that must explain the skill in question," Elmar explains.
He takes an example. The most popular theory is probable Gricean intentionality theory, which states that to mean something by saying something - for example to mean that it is raining by saying 'it is raining' for example - is to have the ability to have an intention to cognitively impact another thinking being. The definition of this ability quickly becomes more complicated; however, it has interesting effects on our hypotheses on the underlying mental processes in the brain, and furthermore on our understanding of lies or dishonesty."
Links or hashtags become signs of reliability
A total of 16 specialists from many countries participate in the project under the supervision of Elmar and his main collaborator, Daniel W. Harris, professor at City University of New York, Hunter College. "No one is an island in science," Elmar correctly points out.
The results of the research work have become apparent in scientific articles and a book that Elmar has worked on and will be published later this year. "One good example of the results of the research is that we have developed and presented a new theory on the meaning of the imperative and the nature of orders. According to some theories orders cannot be dishonest. "Sit down!" can not be alie because I cannot be saying anything that I believe in or not, or anything that can be true or untrue. According to our theory, however, you can put forth a dishonest order," Elmar adds
When discussing the social impact of the research, Elmar rightly points out that it is impossible to know in advance what social impact this will have on society as a whole. "This study deals with a subject that can be very important socially and politically. We plan to suggest ways to reduce the negative impact of information chaos on the Internet, but we do not pretend to have any final solutions. These ways are based on the theory of dishonesty by showing how real signs of reliability can help people to create trust," he says.
Because the internet is a different medium for the former dominant media, paper, it calls for novel approaches. "It is for example conceivable that links and hashtags will assume a more regular role in becoming true signs of reliability, but currently these tools can very easily be used dishonestly. For example when a link is provided with important information it may lead to another story with exactly the same information," Elmar points out.
When asked he also says that the study will have a positive impact on science. "Especially in light of a real effort to use the tools of different disciplines to answer a common question without pretending that the question is more relevant in one field than the other. If anyone in the academy still has the role of bringing different scientific disciplines together, it must be philosophers."
Further information on the project can be found on its website.