Sunstein Analyzes Internet Sources

Cass R. Sunstein ’75, a recently appointed professor at Harvard Law School, discussed the poisonous spread of spurious information in a society that is growing ever more technological, and the ramifications of this on the press and the law, in a speech yesterday.

Sunstein, whose lecture was in honor of his recent appointment as the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, surmised that in an information age when not all sources can be trusted, especially on the Internet, the public will begin “triangulating” its sources, not believing in any one, trusted source, but rather trying to identify the truth through the analysis of a number of outlets.

“Much more thinking needs to be done both on the empirical side and in terms of the appropriate legal response,” Sunstein said. “We can see that in the Internet era in particular, false rumors are not only a source for many people— anonymous and less so—of unjustified injury and cruelty, but also pose serious problems for economic prosperity and democratic self-government as well.”

Sunstein described the specific social and psychological tendencies to believe rumors that could affect the press and the spread of information.

He began with an investigation of the social and psychological factors that prompt individuals to engage in the spread of rumors, and how we, in groups, reinforce our own beliefs in false information.

Sunstein described three social psychological mechanisms that propagate the spread of false information and rumors: biased assumptions, an informational cascade, and the effects of social interaction on individual diversity in beliefs.

“There is an informational cascade,” Sunstein said. “What happens is that people observe the previous signals of people who believe or do something, and once the weight of the previous acts reaches a certain level, the people disregard their own private information.”

Within groups, Sunstein highlighted a set of behaviors people engage in that cause “the convergence of views and the penchant for extremism.” He cited a study that he conducted in Colorado Springs in which participants were asked, first individually, then in groups, their positions on climate change. In the results, he identified factors that lead to the rejection of individual beliefs, including individual concern for appearance, which often determines whether or not a person remains resolute in a group setting.

“With respect to certain factual statements, people want to be seen a certain way, and also to present themselves a certain way,” Sunstein said. “When people are told by others that their views are correct, they not only rate those others as more likeable and more confident, they rate themselves as more likeable and confident, too.”