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See also the infographics we’ve made about the psychology of misinformation based on an APA report.

Table Of Contents
  1. Principles of Mental Immune System Care
  2. Quote Graphics
  3. What Works to Build Mental Immunity Infographics
  4. Original Memes
  5. Mental Immunity Boosts
  6. Invitations to Reflect
  7. Logos
  8. Other things shared on our social media accounts

Principles of Mental Immune System Care

  • Mental immune system care principle one: Take responsibility for your beliefs. False beliefs can lead us to act in ways that harm ourselves and others. Do your best to avoid them. Instead of being "entitled to your opinion," care if your beliefs are true.
  • Mental immune system care principle two: Monitor your motives for believing. Our motives have a sneaky way of driving our reasoning. It's easy to fool yourself. Ask yourself, "are my desires coloring my beliefs?"
  • Mental immune system care principle three: Mind your emotions. When emotions drive our reasoning, we tend to reach false conclusions and make poor decisions. Notice when you're triggered and practice emotional skepticism.
  • Mental immune system care principle four: Examine your reasons for believing. We all have reasons for our beliefs, but too often, they aren't good ones. Examine your reasons and ask, "Are these the kinds of reasons any objective person would recognize?"
  • Mental immune system care principle five: Explore why you might be wrong. It's easy to find reasons why you're right. To really put your beliefs to the test, look for reasons why you might be wrong. Doubts are the mind's antibodies, so learn to listen to them!
  • Mental immune system care principle six: Think in shades of gray Black-or-white thinking prevents us from seeing reality as it is -- complex, nuanced, and uncertain. It can lead to overconfidence and extremism. Proportion your confidence from 0-100%. Learn to be comfortable with uncertainty.
  • Mental immune system care principle seven: Embrace subtractive learning. Learning isn't just about removing things that aren't true. Learn to unlearn. Treat challenges as opportunities to grow. Be flexible, and if a belief is wrong, let it go!
  • Mental immune system care principle eight: Seek mental immune balance Mental immune systems must be skeptical enough to spot and remove bad ideas, but not so skeptical that they cynically attack good ones. Healthy mental immune systems sit in a "Goldilocks zone" between trust and suspicion.
  • Mental Immune System Care Principle 9 DON'T CLING TO YOUR BELIEFS When we hold beliefs too tightly, challenges feel like personal attacks, and we become too defensive to think clearly.
  • Mental immune system care principle ten: play for team truth Group allegiance can compromise your impartiality. It needn't though! Instead, you can identify as a truth-seeker. We all have a need to belong. Satisfy yours by joining a community of inquiry.
  • Ten principles of mental immune system care Principle 1: Take responsibility for your beliefs Principle 2: Monitor your motives Principle 3: Mind your emotions Principle 4: Examine your reasons Principle 5: Explore why you might be wrong Principle 6: Think in shades of gray Principle 7: Embrace subtractive learning Principle 8: Seek mental immune system balance Principle 9: Don't identify with your beliefs Principle 10: Play for team truth Mentalimmunityproject.org
  • Balance your mental immune system Unbalanced mental immune systems can lead to disorders Mental immuno-deficiency: Indiscriminate trust lets in bad ideas Mental auto-immunity: Indiscriminate suspicion attacks good ideas Healthy balance: Not too gullible or critical

Quote Graphics

Affiliates and Team

A belief is reasonable if it can withstand the challenges to it that genuinely arise. Andy Norman
At its heart, what is distinctive about science is that it cares about evidence and is willing to change its theories on the basis of evidence. Lee McIntyre
We carry access to almost all of humanity’s information — and misinformation— in our pockets. It’s essential to learn the skills to find reliable information and use it wisely. Melanie Trecek-King
Witchcraft panics were outbreaks of infectious BS. If you think similar outbreaks aren't happening to us, you’re not paying attention... Steije Hofhuis
Cognitive immunology represents a paradigm change in how we think about thinking. Luke Johnson
Doubts are the antibodies of the mind: master the use of questions to develop your mental immunity. Andy Norman
“Doubts are the antibodies of the mind; master the use of questions to develop your mental immunity.” Andy Norman
"We carry access to all of humanity’s information in our pockets. The challenge now is spotting the misinformation.” Melanie Trecek-King
“At its heart what is distinctive about science is the willingness to change beliefs on the basis of evidence.” Lee McIntyre
“Clearly social media has not invented the practice of disinformation – but it does offer dangerous new ways for it to spread and dupe people.” Sander van der Linden
“We can’t keep reacting to yesterday’s misinformation. We need to be preparing for tomorrow’s. We need to be inoculating.” Josh Compton
"Our tribal identity alters our perception of the world." David Samson
"Some widespread beliefs are literally parasites: they evolved to serve their interests, not yours. They hurt their human hosts, while furthering their own survival and reproduction." Maarten Boudry
"Parasites love brains! Our attention is what social media platforms want. This is not so different from real life parasites that make a living getting into the brains of their hosts to change their behavior. But social media platforms take it to a whole other level by absorbing our attention then selling it to the highest bidder." Athena Aktipis
"People can 'normalize' unhealthy beliefs by pointing to their popularity or ubiquity, but not all things that are normal or ubiquitous are healthy." Barry Mauer
“Clearly social media has not invented the practice of disinformation – but it does offer dangerous new ways for it to spread and dupe people.” Sander van der Linden
"We carry access to all of humanity’s information in our pockets. The challenge now is spotting the misinformation.” Melanie Trecek-King
"Witchcraft panics were outbreaks of infectious BS. If you think similar outbreaks aren't happening to us, you’re not paying attention..." Steije Hofhuis
"What we want our students to do before they like or share something on social media is think: 1. Who wrote this? 2. Where's it been published? 3. Can I find the same information from another source?" Kari Kivinen
Harvesting Happiness Podcast Mental Immunity Project "We're not telling people what to think. We're sayin that we must think together." Lisa Cypers Kamen

Other Quotes

"The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue." Antisthenes
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. Douglas Adams Mental Immunity Project
The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind. Friedrich Nietzsche Mental Immunity Project
"The important thing is NOT TO STOP QUESTIONING. Curiosity has its own reason." Albert Einstein
The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to UNLEARN what is UNTRUE. Antisthenes
"At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense." Carl Sagan
"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." William James
“The LLM capability to mislead people into believing that they are engaging with certain people about certain things... all of these things that we don’t have any defense mechanism for right now will just flood into the system. They will just spread pathogens throughout the system, and we have no antibodies for them.” Lawrence Lessig

Other Quotes without Pictures

Quote: "We can all take steps to reduce our susceptibility to mind-infections" Mental Immunity Project head logo with left justified text to the right of logo below quote
Stop sign symbol that says "Stop the spread of mind bugs." Mental Immunity Project logo below it
"Preventing Infodemics" in field of cartoon viruses, Mental Immunity Project logo below
The willingness to modify beliefs in the face of new evidence, and the mental habit of doing so correctly, is absolutely fundamental to mental immune health.
Indiscriminate trust is a bad thing, but so is indiscriminate suspicion; it leads to cynicism, anxiety, and ultimately, nihilism.
There's a solution to our misinformation problem: we can strengthen the mind's defenses.
We have a blind spot: we can see other people's misguided beliefs, but rarely spot our own.
"Preventing Infodemics" in field of cartoon viruses
[X (twitter) screenshot] Adam Grant @AdamMGrant It takes curiosity to learn. It takes courage to unlearn. Learning requires the humility to admit what you don't know today. Unlearning requires the integrity to admit that you were wrong yesterday. Learning is how you evolve. Unlearning is how you keep up as the world evolves.

What Works to Build Mental Immunity Infographics

Original Memes

Angler Fish scene from Nemo Being misinformed can be dangerous don't be fooled Mental Immunity Project
Star Trek Data meme MIP head logo with "Mental Immunity Project" inside logo in top right Caption: Show Me The Data
Distracted boyfriend meme Distracted Boyfriend: You, roaming the internet Jealous Girlfriend: What you know is more likely to be true Attractive Woman: misinformation that affirms your biases Mental Immunity Project
Buff doge vs. cheems meme [Above buff doge] Robust Mental Immunity [Below buff doge] changes beliefs according to evidence, doesn't identify with their beliefs, reads a lot. of different new sources, ultimately concerned with knowing the truth [Above cheems] Weak Mental Immunity [Below cheems] Doesn't question their beliefs, strongly identifies with their weak beliefs, only reads things on social media, believes any Reddit answer Mental Immunity Project
This is fine meme [Left panel, dog in house fire at table with coffee] Misinformation & disinformation running amok on social media [Right panel, close up of dog "This is fine."] Me, questioning every claim I see on social media Mental Immunity Project
[I Bet He's Thinking About Other Women meme] Take the MI Pledge! I bet he's thinking about other women. Did she even sign the Mental Immunity Pledge that I sent her? Find the pledge via the link in our profile!
[Drake Hotline Bling Meme] Drake with hand up turning away from: Detox Scams, Get-rich-quick scams, Political Propaganda, Extremist politics, Fearmongering, Misinformation Drake pointing at with approval: Mental Immunity Project Memes
Disinformation distracts from the truth Choose wisely
[scene from The Simpson's cartoon] 0 days without misinformation [person replacing 0 with another 0 with identifier:] the internet Mental Immunity Project
[Bernie Sanders fundraising meme] I am once again asking that you support the Mental Immunity Project
Shout out to our donors [Leonardo Decaprio as the Great Gatsby holding up cocktail glass] thank you for your support
Mental Immunity Project Hard to Swallow pills [person holding pill bottle and pointing at it] Nobody is correct 100% of the time That includes you [person holding pills in had and pointing at them]
Your mind has an immune system ["Aliens" guy from the History channel] And you can learn to enhance it
[growing brain meme] [1] passively taking in information [2] questioning the information you take in [3] fact-checking new information and re-learning [4] fact-checking and applying the 10 principles of mental immunity
He isn't always mistaken [dos equis commercial guy with beer bottle replaced with clipart bottle with MIP logo] But when he is He admits it
BTW, this is the is the truth i.e., the information deficit model does not work.

Mental Immunity Boosts

Cognitive immune health requires a collaborative spirit.
Treat challenges to your beliefs as opportunities rather than threats.
In the same way that biological heath isnt always private (i.e. pandemics spread from human to human). cognitive health also isn't always private. Bad ideas infect and affect us all.
A PANDEMIC is an outbreak of disease. An INFODEMIC is an outbreak of misinformation and faulty thinking. We can INOCULATE against both.
When a difference in perspective arises. resist the urge to see the other person as the PROBLEM and yourself as the SOLUTION. Instead. view the situation as a LEARNiNG OPPORTUNITY and proceed from there.
Listen to your doubts. Cherish the warnings they contain. Learn from them.
Mental Immunity Boost Exposing a mind to a weakened form of a bad idea can help it develop resistance to genuinely harmful variants. Spoofing a silly conspiracy theory, for example, is a good way to inoculate against more infectious conspiracy theories. Mental Immunity Project

Invitations to Reflect

Imagine a world where everyone always yielded to the better reason. Wouldn't this be beautiful?
Ideologies have been known to hijack minds. Who's in charge of your mind: you or unexamined assumptions?
What prevailing opinion should we collectively re-think? Post your candidate in the comments.
What are our beliefs for? Is it okay to believe things for emotional reasons?
Is it okay to believe something because it's useful to believe it? Or should we only believe things because we think they're true?
Can you think of anything we all take on faith? What is it?

Logos

Mental Immunity Project
Image gallery image
Mental Immunity Project
Mental Immunity Project
Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative (CIRCE) crest logo
Thinking Is Power Brain Logo, smiling and winking half orange and half blue brain with black headband holding dumbbell above
Mental Immunity Project Head logo with left-justified test logo with tagline "Em
Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative (CIRCE) sheild logo to the right of Thinking is Power Brain logo
Mental Immunity Project multicolored head logo with arrows, brand name, and tagline: Empowering Minds
Colorful virus graphics on left separated by MIP head outline from MIP Text Logo and tagline on right, "Mental Immunity Project Empowering Minds"
Mental Immunity Challenge, test your susceptibility to mind bugs, icon of person pushing a bolder at left, Mental Immunity Project horizontal text logo at bottom
Mental Immunity [indent] Project [followed by, in smaller text] Empowering Minds [with multi-colored virus graphics of different shapes and sizes in the background]
Mental Immunity Project multicolored head logo with arrows; Welcome to the Mental Immunity Project!
Mental Immunity Project multicolored head logo with arrows, brand name within head, and tagline: Empowering Minds
Mental Immunity Project multicolored head logo with arrows and tagline: Empowering Minds
Image gallery image

Other things shared on our social media accounts

How to Develop Mental Immunity (Andy Norman Interview)
Balance Your Mind's Immune System Mental Immune Deficiency Indiscriminate trust lets in bad ideas Mental Autoimmunity indiscriminate suspicion attacks good ideas Unbalanced mental immune systems can lead to disorders Healthy Balance not too gullible or critical Mental Immunity Project
Can you outsmart a troll? TEDEd
Mental Immunity Project Empowering minds Donate Today As a young nonprofit, every donation we receive makes a difference. Consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Mental Immunity Project today. mentalimmunityproject.org/donate
Foolproof Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity Sander van der Linden
Good Thinking David Robert Grimes
Science Unlimited? The Challenges of Scientism Edited by Maarten Boudry and Massimo Pigliucci
On Disinformation how to Fight For Truth and Protect Democracy Lee McIntyre
more Mental Fitness collaboration Harvesting Happiness CIRCE Mental Immunity Project Sound Ideas for Deeper Thinking
Mental Immunity Project Skills Workshop How to Think in an Age of Misinformation Discussion and Q&A with Andy Norman Author of Mental Immunity Free and open to the public Hosted on Zoom November 6 at 7 pm EST Register via the link in our profile Free, open to the public, hosted on Zoom
We study information manipulation and won’t be bought by Zuckerberg Harvard Gutted Initial Team Examining Facebook Files Following $500 Million Donation from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Whistleblower Aid Client Reveals www.mentalimmunityproject.org/donate
Mental Immunity Project Skills Workshop How to Think in an Age of Misinformation Discussion and Q&A with Andy Norman Author of Mental Immunity November 6 at 7 pm EST Register via the link in our profile Free, open to the public, hosted on Zoom
The Isreal-Hamas war is awash in deadly misinformation. What can we do about it?
You may be wondering... What is Mental Immunity? read on to learn... Mental Immunity Project Empowering Minds
Mental Immunity Project Reading Recommendation On the belief that beliefs should change according to evidence: Implications for conspiratorial, moral, paranormal, political, religious, and science beliefs [authors and abstract thereafter] Published by Cambridge University Press Society for Judgement and Decision Making
Gale M Sinatra Barbara K Hofer Science Denial Why It Happens and What to do About It
The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science Confronting Myths of the Health and Fitness Industry Nicholas B. Tiller
Mental Immunity Project Resource Recommendation The Conspiracy Test theconspiracytest.org
Mental Immunity Project Reading Recommendation Facts Not Fakes Tackling Disinformation, Strengthening Information Integrity Published by OECD
Mental Immunity Project Policy Brief The Critical Importance of Cognitive Immunology Tools from this new discipline can protect against misinformation and disinformation. by Luke Johnson & Andy Norman published in TheCyberEdge by Signal
Celebrate National Science Appreciation Day with Us! Science has improved human life in many ways. Take a moment today to appreciate the scientific advancements that make our lives better. On March 26, 1953, American medical scientist Dr. Jonas Salk revealed the successful development of his polio vaccine. It was a landmark achievement of science and continues to make life healthier and safer even today. Learn more at ScienceSaves.Org #ScienceAppreciationDay

See also the infographics we’ve made about the psychology of misinformation based on an APA report.

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