Searching for explanations: How the Internet inflates estimates of internal knowledge. Fisher et al 02015
Fisher, Matthew; Goddu, Mariel K.; Keil, Frank C.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol 144(3), Jun 2015 http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2015-13957-001/ [ pdf ]
Abstract: As the Internet has become a nearly ubiquitous resource for acquiring knowledge about the world, questions have arisen about its potential effects on cognition. Here we show that searching the Internet for explanatory knowledge creates an illusion whereby people mistake access to information for their own personal understanding of the information. Evidence from 9 experiments shows that searching for information online leads to an increase in self-assessed knowledge as people mistakenly think they have more knowledge “in the head,” even seeing their own brains as more active as depicted by functional MRI (fMRI) images.
Keywords: transactive memory, explanation, knowledge
Paper overview
tl;dr version: Using the internet as external, transactive memory can give you over-estimation of confidence in your understanding of a subject – something more than you would be able to recall without that immediate access.
Transactive memory is shared knowledge between a cooperating group. Assuming that you know something because you have access to that knowledge through an expert person or source could bias decisions if those require more thorough understanding.
With long form information, such as a book, it is possible to create a more elaborate mental model. With the internet it’s providing the illusion that we have this deeper knowledge when it is really just a distance away.
One can think of examples where this is not a problem, like searching for a mac & cheese recipe. But with concepts with increasing complexity that require specialized knowledge, decisions should be more careful if they are outside your area of expertise. In essence the transactive wealth of internet content is not necessarily transmitting the knowledge, though it may contain the data to do so.
Also have to say that it’s a flashy title 😉
Hat tip to Guido, Matt & Conrad for additional insights.
Track forward to review of a related article: the internet as a psychological research tool
