WAYS TO ELIMINATE DISSONANCE IN THE PERCEPTION OF FAKE NEWS: A COGNITIVE VIEW

Abstract

The purpose of research is to consider the cognitive basis for the formation of fake information and describe the ways of giving this information the characteristics of truth. To achieve this goal, were applied the method of cognitive modeling and cognitive-discourse analysis. In information processing in order to impart truth characteristics to fake information, both cognitive and metacognitive levels are activated. Static declarative knowledge, which is obtained empirically and is stored in the human memory, is not sufficient for the authors of fake news. Such knowledge is objective and does not create the necessary associations. Due to the metacognitive level and its aspect - procedural knowledge, the authors of fake news manage to process the information in such a way that despite its unreliability, newly designed knowledge is perceived as true. This process involves the cognitive mechanisms of generalization, specification, cognitive metonymy, metaphtonymy, conceptual comparison, visualization, frame recurrence, concept substitution, and attention nesting. These mechanisms act as components of the procedural knowledge model which is the basis for the adaptability of fake news to truth indicators. All cognitive mechanisms are characterized by purposefulness, controllability, dynamism and interactivity. We see the prospect of further research in the need to compare the cognitive principles and mechanisms that are in demand in the elimination of cognitive dissonance in the perception of fake news by different authors and on the material of other languages.