Conspiracy Month: Lisa Fazio - Why Fake News Feels Real

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

True Crime, Talk Radio, Comedy, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2022

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's Conspiracy Month! In our first episode of the series, Lisa Fazio, Associate Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, discusses how we come to believe falsehoods, why none of us are experts at discerning fact from fiction, and how repetition can make false information seem more true. She'll discuss why misinformation spreads so easily on the internet, ways we can protect ourselves from bad information (spoiler: it's hard), and how human memory is wildly unreliable - and, unfortunately, manipulatable. PLUS: Lola shares how her mom and stepdad spent the last year working to secretly take down polygamous cult leader Samuel Bateman. Got your own story about cults, extreme belief, or abuse of power? Leave a voicemail or text us at 347-86-TRUST (347-868-7878), OR shoot us an email at [email protected]. INSTAGRAM: @TrustMePodcast @oohlalola @meaganelizabeth11 TWITTER: @TrustMeCultPod @ohlalola @baberahamhicks TIKTOK: @TrustMeCultPodcast

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you have your own story of being in a cult or a high control group or if you've had
0:04.1	experience with manipulation or abuse the power that you'd like to share, leave us a message
0:08.4	on our hotline number at 347-86 trust. That's 347-868-7878 or shoot us an e-mail at TrustMePod
0:18.2	at gmail.com. Trust me, do you trust me? Trust me, I'm like a smart person. Yeah, I've never
0:25.6	lied to you. I never have lied. If you think that one person has all the answers, don't!
0:32.5	Welcome, welcome to TrustMe, the podcast about cults, extreme belief, and manipulation from two
0:38.0	investigative journalists who've actually experienced it. I'm Lola Blanc. And I'm Megan Elizabeth.
0:43.2	Well, we're not investigative journalists. I mean, we're not, not, but we also aren't really.
0:49.2	Okay. Fair. We're podcasters, you guys. Today, in our first episode of Conspiracy Month,
0:56.2	we are focusing this month every week. We're talking to a different person about conspiracy theories
1:00.8	and how they happen and who they happen to, et cetera, et cetera. For this first week of
1:04.8	Conspiracy Month, we're going to talk to Lisa Fazio. So she is an associate professor of psychology
1:09.5	at Vanderbilt University, and she researches learning, memory, and how we come to believe falsehoods.
1:14.5	Because, after all, conspiracy theorists believe in a whole lot of things that have no evidence.
1:19.2	Lisa's going to talk to us about why none of us are the experts in discerning fact from fiction
1:23.3	that we think we are, and how, therefore, we're all vulnerable to made-up stories, and how hearing
1:27.2	something multiple times makes it seem more true. Even if we know it isn't and no matter who's
1:32.4	saying it. Uh, scary. She'll talk to us about why misinformation spreads so easily on the internet,
1:38.0	how falsehoods stick in our memory even after we learn that they're not true, and the ways we can
1:42.5	protect ourselves from falling prey to bad information that might lead us into conspiracy
1:47.0	theory territory. So much to get into you guys. I'm really excited about this month.
1:51.1	Oh, me too. So instead of doing a cultiest thing this week, we are just going to talk about
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.