Bobby Duffy – The RSA

What proportion of the country’s population are immigrants? What is the crime rate in your local area? How much tax do the rich pay?

Evidence suggests that most of us are very wrong about what goes on in the world around us. Misinformation in the media is a growing worry, but it’s not all about fake news. No matter how impartial we think we are, we’re all biased towards information that confirms what we already believe – and our ability to filter and tailor what we see online only distorts our perceptions further. To avoid panic and gloom in a ‘post-truth era’, it’s more important than ever to check our facts, challenge our biases, and demand better from our media outlets.

Director of Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute Bobby Duffy explains how misperceptions can be shifted, and assures us that we have more reason for optimism than our ignorance would have us believe.