Truth and Authenticity

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

What we think affects how we see, and what we see affects what we believe. This course examines visual veracity and how images and the presentation of information impact our conceptions of truth, reality, and authenticity. Whether it is a fake object inserted into the art historical record, a fake social media profile intended to deceive, or fake news created to sway public opinion, the resulting attack on what we believe to be real can be devastating. Students will examine and compare empirical approaches in the behavioral and cognitive sciences that aid in opinion formation and decision-making, explaining our gullibility to misinformation, capacity for groupthink, and knowledge acquisition. We will explore social theories of cognition and why we tend to think we know more than we do, and how this belief can be manipulated. This course also explores why we are so easily deceived. Students will review empirical research and hear case studies from industry-leading guest speakers that provide explanations for these phenomena as they relate to arts and culture, religion, politics and democracy, health outcomes, and our self-knowledge. Students will gain familiarity with Deep Fakes and how synthetic media and accompanying misinformation have emerged into a destructive political and social force. Lastly, the course will explore some of the efforts to combat our broken information ecosystem, driven largely by images and video that make it nearly impossible to tell what is real and what isn’t.