Cognitive Bias and Social Media
Views from the Cave and Online Polarization
Cognitive Bias Videos as Digital Intervention
In May 2021, Views from the Cave began exploring the role of cognitive bias with in social media environments and political discourse.
Using short experimental videos, humor, and simplified psychological concepts, the project attempted to interrupt toxic online interactions and encourage reflection rather than escalation.
These videos revealed an unexpected effect:
The Dunning–Kruger Effect
Confidence, Knowledge, and Perception
One recurring theme within David Deighton's series was the Dunning–Kruger effect:
the idea that limited understanding can produce inflated confidence, while deeper knowledge often increases awareness of uncertainty and complexity.
Expertise and False Certainty
The videos explored how simplified understandings of complex political or social issues can create the illusion of certainty as in the 100 Views from the Cave or even in the Short Films projects.
In contrast, genuine expertise frequently involves caution, nuance, and recognition of ambiguity.
Bias in Digital Culture
Within social media environments, strongly confident opinions can spread rapidly regardless of their relationship to evidence or expertise.
The work asks viewers to consider:
How do confidence and visibility shape what people believe online?
Declinism Bias and Political Narratives
Remembering the Past as Better
Another focus of the series was declinism bias:
the tendency to imagine the past more positively while assuming the future is inevitably worsening.
Fear, Decline, and Media Environments
The videos explored how political and media narratives often amplify perceptions of collapse, crisis, and deterioration—even when long-term evidence may suggest greater complexity.
Perception Versus Data
The project encouraged viewers to compare emotional reactions and media impressions with broader historical and statistical perspectives:
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life expectancy,
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violence rates,
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poverty reduction,
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education,
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and quality-of-life indicators.
Plato’s Cave and Cognitive Distortion
Social Media as Contemporary Cave
Drawing from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the project examined how algorithmic feeds and online echo chambers shape emotional and ideological perception.
Bias, Repetition, and Constructed Reality
The work suggests that biases do not simply distort information individually—they also become reinforced collectively through repetition, visibility, and digital interaction.
Experimental Video as Critical Reflection
Humor, Simplicity, and Awareness
Rather than presenting academic explanations, the videos translated psychological concepts into short visual interventions using humor, irony, and playful imagery.
Recognizing Bias Without Eliminating It
The project does not suggest that bias can ever be fully removed.
Instead, it proposes that awareness of bias may strengthen individual capacities for analysis, self-reflection, and critical thought.
From Online Interaction to Active Listening
The Evolution Toward Triptych Dialogue
This phase of Views from the Cave became an important bridge toward Triptych Dialogue and later face-to-face conversations centered on active listening and non-confrontational political exchange.
From Algorithms to Human Presence
The work gradually shifted away from purely digital interaction toward direct encounters where listening, emotional recognition, and human presence replaced anonymous online conflict.
Related Projects and Films:
Views from the Cave
Explore the larger experimental media project examining digital perception, political polarization, and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Questions
Discover abstract films exploring uncertainty, fragmented realities, and the instability of meaning within contemporary digital culture.
MAGA Memes
View political meme-based artworks examining online tribalism, echo chambers, and the emotional dynamics of social media environments.
Lying MAGA: The Disinformation Game
Explore experimental media works investigating disinformation, digital belief systems, and the mechanics of ideological reinforcement online.
Active Listening Across Political Division
Discover how face-to-face dialogue and attentive listening emerged as responses to polarization, outrage, and digital fragmentation.