Why is the human brain so vulnerable to false beliefs and conspiracy theories despite evidence to the contrary? And what can be done to protect ourselves, our families, and society from our collective propensity to fall into these seductive traps?

Dr. Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor at UCSF and a specialist in delusions and delusion-like beliefs, will be returning to the Club to discuss these issues with us. His first talk on the topic, a few years ago, was a sold-out, extremely informative success, so we asked him to return for a deeper look into the personal and societal effects of mistrust, misinformation, and motivated reasoning. Equally important, he is going to outline how we can avoid the pitfalls of acting on false beliefs, both as individuals and as a society.

So if you've been puzzled by how "otherwise-intelligent" friends and relatives have fallen into the trap of a false belief, or if you're searching for a way to reach out to someone who has fallen for one, or if you're wondering how society can defend itself, join us for this event and discussion. We'll learn why "just the facts" doesn't usually work, and we'll learn how to view our ideological opponents with compassion while still vigorously defending society.

Come to the Club for a discussion with Dr. Pierre and your peers, the book signing, and maybe even dinner afterward at a nearby restaurant!

Organizer Eric Siegel

Notes

A Personal Growth Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Photo courtesy the speaker.

Resources and References

Note: These resources were provided by the moderator; Commonwealth Club World Affairs is not responsible for the content or the links.

Books:

• Joseph Pierre. (2025) False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things that Aren't True. Oxford University Press.
• Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook. (2020) The Conspiracy Theory Handbook 
  Free download: http://sks.to/conspiracy
• Carl Sagan. (1995) The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Random House. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World)
• Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay. (2019) How to Have Impossible Conversations. Balance.
• K. Viswanath, Tiffany E. Taylor, Holly G. Rhodes, eds. (2024) Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science. National Academies Press. 
  Free download: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27894/understanding-and-addressing-misinformation-about-science

How to Have a Discussion:

• Joe Pierre. "4 Keys to Help Someone Climb Out of the QAnon Rabbit Hole" https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202009/4-keys-to-help-someone-climb-out-of-the-qanon-rabbit-hole
• "Tips on countering conspiracy theories and misinformation" https://www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/flyer_v18.pdf
• Tanya Basu. "How To Talk To Conspiracy Theorists—And Still Be Kind" https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/15/1004950/how-to-talk-to-conspiracy-theorists-and-still-be-kind/
• "How To Tackle Misinformation When It’s Coming From A Loved One" https://www.edf.org/how-tackle-misinformation-when-its-coming-loved-one
• Melanie Trecek-King. "A Life Preserver for Staying Afloat in a Sea of Misinformation" https://skepticalinquirer.org/2022/02/a-life-preserver-for-staying-afloat-in-a-sea-of-misinformation/
• JitsuVax tutorial on vaccine conversations https://jitsuvax.github.io/
• The Debunking Handbook 2020. https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DebunkingHandbook2020.pdf

Detecting False Information:

• "The Problem With “Doing Your Own Research” https://thinkingispower.com/the-problem-with-doing-your-own-research/
• Elyse Samuels, Sarah Cahlan, Emily Sabens. "How to Spot a Fake Video" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/19/how-spot-fake-video/
• Annique Mossou, Ross Higgins. "A Beginner's Guide To Social Media Verification" https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2021/11/01/a-beginners-guide-to-social-media-verification/
• Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin D. West. (2020) Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. Random House.

Civic and Media Education:

• Stanford University "Civic Online Reasoning" curriculum https://cor.stanford.edu/
• News Literacy Project https://newslit.org/
• Generation Skeptics lesson plans https://generationskeptics.org/
• Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science https://www.aldacenter.org/
• Thinking Is Power science literacy https://thinkingispower.com/for-educators/
• Oxford University resource guide https://navigator.oii.ox.ac.uk/