MISINFORMATION AS A METHOD OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION (BASED ON MODERN FOREIGN RESEARCH)

Abstract

This article is based on up-to-date foreign research on the use of misinformation as a tool of psychological influence, which has become the most pressing issue at the moment. In practice, the information provided by the mass media has become a means of influencing its content. Extremely fast-paced images of life, a lack of time to study the events reported by the media, and sometimes a lack of personal skills to analyze these reports have led to a wide audience accepting the material in the same way as media outlets. The article attempts to theoretically comprehend the phenomenon of creating and disseminating “fake news” in the modern media space as well as their impact on the cognitive process. The content of the concept of “fake” in the broad sense of the word is revealed as well as the psychological characteristics of its influence on the human mind. If we consider psychologically the concept of “fake news”, then it is defned as “a message stylistically created as real news, but false in whole or in part to manipulate people.” The author’s classifcation of “fake news” is presented, which is based on classifcation criteria such as the ratio of reliable and false information; the reliability of the circumstances of the time and place of the event; the composition of the persons referred to in the “news”; psychological goals of creating and disseminating “news”; the level of perception of the reliability of the “news”, as well as the state and change in cognitive processes during the perception of misinformation (fake news). Varieties of “fake news” are illustrated by specifc examples from the media and Internet resources. Psychological information on measures taken to neutralize the impact of “fake news” is presented. The results and conclusions will be used by students, psychologists, and sociologists, as well as members of the media. The rapid development of the Internet and social networks provides ample opportunity for the spread of fake messages on a global scale, which in turn increases the relevance of research in the feld of information security.