Post-truth is fashionable. This word is often named without understanding its meaning, but it is okay, we are here to explain what it is, post-truth is defined as a deliberate distortion of reality, in other words, post-truth is the manipulation of beliefs and emotions to influence public opinion and people’s attitudes.
Post-truth refers to the emotional use to trigger people’s emotions, to change their thoughts while hiding facts, which really happens. The best known area in which post-truth has been used is politics, so some terms have emerged such as populist speeches or fake news that use post-truth. Next, we’ll explain these terms and the psychological points that help us understand them.
- As has already been said.
- Post-truth is based on discourses and texts that try to push us to manipulate or distort the reality we perceive.
- So many politicians have used this technique to win the support of public opinion.
- Populist discourse is one of the most widely used resources.
- These are discourses in which the masses are influenced by impossible promises.
- Promising policies.
- People-to-people.
- And simple solutions to all problems.
On the other hand, taking advantage of the rise of social networks and the Internet, fake news has become more important, fake news is news, also called rumors, which are often used deliberately to uninform, every day we are bombarded with so much information, so-called infoxiation, which is very complicated to know whether something is true or not, helps us to believe and accept some fake news.
Why is post-truth so attractive?Mainly, the motive is in the narrative. Speeches and information share several characteristics that increase their appeal, some of which are simplicity and coherence, propagate very simple explanations that we can understand and are also consistent.
Post-truth is based on dichotomies. ” It’s all in black and white,” “if they’re not good, are they with the bad guys. “Moreover, post-truth promises a hopeful future. These characteristics of post-truth will make it attractive, especially for some people; specifically, for people who feel confused, disoriented and insecure; these characteristics of people will make them have a greater need for cognitive closure; in addition, these people generally feel threatened, humiliated or insignificant. that’s why they also have an intense motivation to seek importance.
As we have seen, there are two psychological factors that make us more prone to narrative post-truth or post-truth. They are: a great need for closure and a strong motivation to seek importance. These two factors describe the mindset of “losers of globalization,” who feel abandoned in a rapidly changing world and where they can’t find their place.
People with these characteristics are disoriented and confused, the way you do things no longer works. Technology has left their skills obsolete and taken their jobs. They feel humiliated and devalued. In their desperation, they passionately embrace the narratives of post-truth, which dispel their uncertainties and promise to make them great again, promises that will put an end to all your problems and offer you certainty and hope, are accepted very easily.
However, while the use of the Internet has increased the use of fake news, it also provides us with resources to recognize them, there are specialized pages where this fake news is discovered and guides on how to distinguish a fake news from a real one. Some of these tips are: see who the author is (many fake news does not include the author), check if the same information appears in different media and observe whether a clear ideology is identified or, on the contrary, presents different points of view. In short, in order for post-truth not to deceive us, we must develop critical thinking.