This is hidden brain.
Im Shankar Vedanta.
In the middle of a workday in April 2013, the Associated Press sent out a tweet breaking two explosions in the White House.
It read, Barack Obama is injured.
The tweet caused panic in the financial markets.
Within minutes, the Dow plunged more than 100 points as traders rushed to sell off stocks amid the threat of political instability.
The news was bogus.
There were no explosions, and the president was safe.
The AP's Twitter account had been hacked.
Within a few minutes, the information was corrected and the markets recovered.
When we think of misinformation, we often think of stories like this, blatant cases of lies and falsehood perpetrated by deceitful and malevolent agents.
But in recent years, social scientists have found that misinformation comes in many flavors, most of which are far subtler than the erroneous AP story.
These forms of misinformation prey on our mental blind spots and take advantage of our passions and loyalties.
This week on hidden the many insidious forms of misinformation and how we can all get better at separating fact from fiction.
How long have these meal kits been in my fridge?
One week?
Two?
How much am I spending on these?
Hey, Erica, did my subscription go up?
When your questions about life turn into questions about money, there's Erika, the virtual financial assistant to help you spend, save and plan smarter.