Lies and manipulation on the internet: expert shows you two effective ways to protect yourself against fake news
Fake news is deliberately spread to manipulate opinions and, thus, elections. Fact checks alone are powerless against their public effectiveness. However, in combination with other tools, resistance to false claims can be strengthened in the long term. “You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time,” declared US President Abraham Lincoln more than 150 years ago. Even though he was already vividly aware of the influence of fake news on public opinion back then, he was confident enough to believe that the truth would prevail in the end – at least for most people. Can we still share this optimism in the age of manipulation-prone internet media and their global networking? Despite prominent experiences to the contrary, resignation is clearly out of place. A large number of…
How to become your own decision architect and make better career decisions
The only way that you can purposefully influence anything in your life is by your decisions. The rest of your life just happens. This article provides practical concepts and useful procedures empowering you to become your own decision architect to make systematically better decisions and improve your life. In addition, specific tips for career decisions are presented. Note: This article is based on the TEDxInnsbruck “Give yourself a nudge: How you can make better decisions”, 2021 (available at https://www.ted.com/talks/johannes_siebert_nudge_yourself_to_make_better_decisions). It also provides specific tips for making career decisions. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374631691_How_to_become_your_own_decision_architect_and_make_better_career_decisions
Enhancing misinformation correction: New variants and a combination of awareness training and counter-speech to mitigate belief perseverance bias
Belief perseverance bias refers to individuals’ tendency to persevere in biased opinions even after the misinformation that initially shaped those opinions has been retracted. This study contributes to research on reducing the negative impact of misinformation by mitigating the belief perseverance bias. The study explores the previously proposed awareness-training and counter-speech debiasing techniques, further developing them by introducing new variants and combining them. We investigate their effectiveness in mitigating the belief perseverance bias after the retraction of misinformation related to a real-life issue in an experiment involving N = 876 individuals, of whom 364 exhibit belief perseverance bias. The effectiveness of the debiasing techniques is assessed by measuring the difference between the baseline opinions before exposure to misinformation and the opinions after exposure to a debiasing technique. Our study confirmed the effectiveness of the awareness-training and counter-speech debiasing techniques in mitigating the belief perseverance bias, finding no discernible differences in…
Generation A – Making decisions easier for young people
BAYREUTH. Can young people even make decisions for themselves – and make good decisions for themselves? Of course, says Prof. Johannes Siebert, and has a task for the audience: a young person wants to play computer games with his friends at the weekend. The young people call it “gaming”. However, he has not performed the best at school in the past year – and there is an important math exam just after the gaming weekend. Should parents allow it or not? The listeners clearly say no. What happens in a family? The parents say, if you promise to cram for at least two hours every day until the Zock weekend, then we’ll allow it. But who makes the decision? “The parents,” says Siebert. But there is a way for young people to gain control over the decision themselves. They can suggest that they study until the Thursday before the gambling…
From wish to reality: Find happiness! If you follow 6 steps, you will make good decisions
We can actively shape our lives with decisions ─ both professionally and privately. But how do we make decisions that are likely to influence our lives in the way we want them to? Decision scientist Johannes Siebert provides answers. We often invest a lot of time and energy in important decisions. Nevertheless, sometimes we are dissatisfied with ourselves afterward. But when is self-criticism justified? What makes a good decision anyway? Only when we are clear about how we can make good decisions can we increase our own life satisfaction through our actions. First of all, a key point: the results of our decisions are not a criterion for their quality. Although we can influence the future, it is never entirely up to us how it turns out. There is always a residual uncertainty. Imagine we decide to travel to a destination known for its white sandy beaches and reliably sunny…
Despite pressure from fans and the media: why clubs should think twice when sacking coaches
When a team in professional soccer fails to achieve the hoped-for results, many fans almost reflexively call for a new coach. In my article on Focus Online, I explain why it is often a bad idea to give in to this demand. A team is behind and needs two goals in the last quarter of an hour to turn the game around. In this critical situation, the coach decides to substitute a striker for a defender. The striker scores the two long-awaited goals and the team wins. Was the substitution of the striker a good decision by the coach? Many fans, commentators and media clearly say “Yes!”. In the event of a defeat, they would have vehemently demanded the dismissal of the coach, whom they are now celebrating for his tactical foresight. In terms of decision-making theory, this reaction – as understandable as it may seem at first glance –…
Realize your dreams through sound decision making
In an article in the FOCUS Online Expert Circle, I explain the biggest mistake made in decision-making and how to avoid it easily. The biggest mistake is that many people are content with the default decision-making situations and don’t actively engage with what they should (actually) be deciding on. It’s important to think outside the box and (pro-)actively take control of our own decisions. And there is hope! Proactive decision making is a skill that anyone can learn. An effective approach is to think through every decision-making situation with three key questions in mind: 1. how can we best define decision-making situations? 2. how can we identify the objectives relevant to a decision? 3. how do we discover particularly good options for action? I answer these and other questions in the interview. Read the full article here: https://www.focus.de/experts/fundierte-entscheidungsfindung-stellen-sie-sich-drei-schluesselfragen-um-traeume-zu-verwirklichen_id_259706293.html I also talk about the importance of being your own decision architect…
MCI-Prof. Johannes Siebert wins prestigious Best Paper Award
We are delighted that the article “Making a good career choice: A decision-analytical intervention to enhance proactive decision-making and career choice self-efficacy in high school students” by Prof. Johannes Siebert, Dr. Nadine Oeser, and Dr. Maxi Becker was awarded the Best Research Paper 2023 by the renowned Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. In previous studies, Siebert/Kunz/Rolf (2020, 2021) were able to prove the effectiveness of decision-making skills training for students and managers. Taken together, the studies allow the conclusion that proactive cognitive decision-making skills can be improved through decision-making skills training and, as a result, participants experience greater self-efficacy and are more satisfied with their lives. Motivated by these research results, Prof. Siebert wanted to investigate the effectiveness of KLUG-decision-making competence trainings in analogy to these studies.Further details can be found here: https://www.mci.edu/en/news-filter-en/193-studyprogram-news/news-business-management-en/5453-best-paper-award-decision-sciences
What is important when it comes to career guidance at school: researchers explain how best to support pupils in choosing a course of study or training
The drop-out rates among trainees and first-year students are high – on average, around one in four drop out again. Schools have an important role to play in prior career guidance. Prof. Dr. Johannes Siebert from the Management Center Innsbruck explains which mistakes should be avoided. You can find the full, excellent article by Lena Sterz from Campus Schulmagazin here: https://www.campus-schulmanagement.de/magazin/was-bei-der-berufsorientierung-in-der-schule-wichtig-ist
“KLUGentscheiden!” research project: empowering high school students’ study and career choices
Making the right decisions in your own life is something that can be learned. The project “KLUGentscheiden!” at the University of Bayreuth shows: Young people who receive systematic training in decision-making skills shortly before leaving school consider their abilities and long-term interests far more thoroughly when choosing a course of study or vocational training than if they spontaneously follow their own wishes or simply trust the recommendations of others. In the coming weeks, the regional cooperation with selected schools that has been successfully established in the project will be further intensified and expanded. The coordinator of “KLUG entscheiden!” is Prof. Dr. Johannes Siebert, who set up the project at the University of Bayreuth and now teaches and researches at the MCI Management Center Innsbruck. Dr. Manuel Friedrich, head of the didactics of economics at the University of Bayreuth, is responsible for the didactics. The project is financially supported by the…