Three Strategies To Combat Media Disinformation Amidst Political Polarization and False Narratives

Masterminds Lisa Cypers Kamen and Andy Norman, share three strategies for decoding disinformation and minimizing its deliberate impact on political outcomes.

LOS ANGELES, March 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As the election cycle approaches amidst the current hostile landscape, understanding effective media consumption becomes paramount for Americans. Disinformation is emerging as a strategic campaign tool, influencing outcomes and necessitating a critical understanding of its impact on our democracy.

Andy Norman, a Carnegie Mellon University researcher, and Lisa Cypers Kamen, host of Harvesting Happiness (HH), draw on their decades of expertise to explore cognitive immunology in a new 18-part series. Divided into two 9-part segments, Harvesting Happiness podcast productions explore the emerging science of cognitive immunology examining how and why disinformation, conspiracy theories, and media propaganda are used to undermine critical thinking and common sense.

The series equips listeners with tools to discern truth, serving as a means to bolster psychological safety in a politically polarized climate. Since its January 2024 launch, the series has amassed more than a million downloads, proving that the content resonates with those seeking emotional resilience in challenging times through reason and accountability.

"Information intake impacts how we think, vote, behave, and experience collective well-being.

Individuals are hungry for media literacy and common sense strategies to combat false narratives and safeguard democracy. We are advocating for facts over feelings and data over destructive rhetoric," says Kamen

Harvesting Happiness is proud to partner with Norman and the researchers and scholars at the Mental Immunity Project (MIP) and Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative (CIRCE), to provide listeners with vital tools through powerful strategies like those below, to improve communication and listening skills, combat information warfare and foster integrity in conversations, emotions, and politics;

1. Prioritize Facts: In the face of information manipulation, prioritize facts over emotions to maintain clarity and objectivity in decision-making. Gather content shared from many different perspectives and information outlets, then question the information to stay objective.

2. Develop Media Literacy: Enhance skills to discern truth from fiction, cross-referencing multiple sources to ensure accuracy and avoid spreading misinformation. Identify personal biases and evaluate tone, language, and evidence for neutral factual sources.

3. Embrace Reason and Accountability: Uphold reason, logic, and accountability as essential principles to combat information warfare, ensuring a foundation of critical thinking and integrity in discourse. Staying updated on current events and emerging media trends including AI-generated content in marketing news can help one navigate through confusing information landscapes.

Lisa Cypers Kamen leads enlightening discussions with Norman's MIP and CIRCE partners, educating the public on resisting harmful ideas. Listeners can binge-listen to 9 episodes on the Harvesting Happiness flagship podcast and 9 additional bonus sessions of More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness available only on Medium and Substack deepening our grasp of mental immunity's effects on cognition and behavior.

Learn more about CIRCE, the Mental Immunity Project and Harvesting Happiness. Please contact [email protected] for more information on the series or to book interviews with the collaborators.

Media Contact:
Carrie Hill
757-621-9319
[email protected]

Harvesting Happiness (HH), led by applied positive psychology expert Lisa Cypers Kamen, promotes well-being through dynamic multimedia presentations, empowering personal and organizational resilience-building in order to thrive and flourish.

The Mental Immunity Project (MIP) fortifies humanity against irrationality through responsible thinking, science and human values.

The Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative (CIRCE) pioneers misinformation resistance science, mitigating divisive ideologies to support human aspirations.

SOURCE Harvesting Happiness