by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n My first TV show appearance was in March 1991, a couple of days after the Rodney King Incident in Los Angeles.\u00a0 The president of the police union I worked with asked me to go along on a TV interview because the deck was stacked against him with a member of the ACLU and civil rights leaders as the other guests.\u00a0 The attacks were vicious against the union president at first, then I spoke up and said that many mental illness protocols show that \u201cjumping to conclusions\u201d is a type of delusional thinking that comes with narcissistic, histrionic and borderline personality disorders, and even worse comes with paranoid psychosis where conspiracy theories play out.\u00a0 The fact was we didn\u2019t have any knowledge of what happened before the videotape of Rodney King, the toxicology report on him, or even his history. \u00a0I suggested we should wait for those results to draw conclusions.\u00a0 That was not a popular idea with the anti-police persons, but it did shut them up, and gave the PBA president something to play off.\u00a0 History confirmed my contention.\u00a0 As it turns out, when the opening ten seconds of the video that the TV\u00a0 Station KTLA had edited out were shown, the officers were acquitted in state court.\u00a0 The press caused a reaction, created news, and once created it was not destroyed.\u00a0 Essentially, if that video were not to have riled masses, causing riots which enabled part of LA to be held hostage, this would have probably been handled internally by the department with the same results.\u00a0 One officer was later found to have made six unnecessary blows after King was subdued and a second officer (the second was the supervisor) were found guilty of a civil rights violation in federal court.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFake News\u201d is no stranger to people in law enforcement.\u00a0 Name the police administrator (or psychologist) who hasn\u2019t been misquoted (or misinterpreted) by the media, and I will show you someone that hasn\u2019t spoken to the media very much.\u00a0 It is not endemic to all media, but it does show up a lot.\u00a0 It has gotten extreme lately on both political sides.\u00a0\u00a0 Russian collusion, traitors by email, selling the country to enemies either by hotel room profits or donations, it is getting hard to distinguish what is news and what is not.\u00a0 Is it just our innate desire to find the needle of evil in the haystack of life?\u00a0 Or is it being fed to us to draw delusional conclusions that border on mental illness?\u00a0 Either way, psychology<\/u><\/strong> is definitely involved here.<\/span><\/p>\n The first psychological concept working here is wish fulfillment.\u00a0 We all have desires of what we would like to see happen in this world and we try to fit what does happen into that wish.\u00a0 While humans are great deceivers of others, we are even better deceivers of ourselves.\u00a0 Wish fulfillment is why people tell stories that didn\u2019t really happen that way, view losing games with some positive signs, and spend money they don\u2019t have hoping that their wish comes in and rescues them.\u00a0 When a fan says their team won in yards gained, time of possession, tackles for loss, in fact in every way but on the scoreboard \u2013 that\u2019s wish fulfillment.\u00a0 When a reporter asks you, \u201ddon\u2019t you think x, y, and z\u201d and you say, \u201cnot really,\u201d then you see x, y and z in print, that\u2019s wish fulfillment and fake news.\u00a0 That is really increasing in the media interviews I had done a few years ago.\u00a0 Now that is mostly all the media is.<\/span><\/p>\n Next up, we have the goal of the news story being something different than to present the news.\u00a0 In law enforcement, your job is to catch the guy doing the crime and collect the evidence.\u00a0 Someone else makes the decision to prosecute and another party makes the decision to sentence a person.\u00a0 At least, that is the way is supposed to be.\u00a0 \u00a0This is a psychologically dissonant way to exist, as the naturally tendency is to want to be able to follow through the entire process.\u00a0 We tend to want to solve psychological dissonance, but accept the alternate which is to have part of the process.\u00a0 The news\u2019 goal years ago was to present the story and let the viewer or consumer make the decision where to fit it in their world.\u00a0 Now the goal seems to have changed and it is seemingly to catch views.\u00a0 The best way to catch views is to be disruptive.\u00a0 We have a president who is definitely disruptive and means to be, like it or not.\u00a0 They clash.\u00a0 Now it appears the news in America\u2019s goal is either to crucify or canonize Donald Trump.\u00a0 Either way it is not serving the original goal of disseminating information in a non-evaluative form.<\/span><\/p>\n Next in line, power corrupts and total power corrupts totally.\u00a0 Influence is power, at least in today\u2019s world.\u00a0 It is not the quality of viewers on your site that pays the bill, it is the number of views.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we have all known people who got in leadership roles whose personalities have been destroyed by the role.\u00a0 \u00a0Well, having the power of being able to influence the masses with every word you write or say on TV is a total power.\u00a0 It is sad to say, narcissism frequently becomes their direction and the social good does not.\u00a0 Narcissism is a hard nut to break.\u00a0 And the worst part is when you become narcissistic, you don\u2019t realize something is wrong.\u00a0 Being politically correct is a type of narcissism.\u00a0 It must be fought tooth and nail by the exact same people it is affecting (or infecting is probably a better way to say it).<\/span><\/p>\n The final psychological creator of fake news<\/u> is just somebody wanting to make life more fun and exciting.\u00a0 Essentially, they are just out and out faking it.\u00a0 Remember the tabloids that used to tout \u201cElvis Child is Born an Alien Monster,\u201d\u00a0 Or \u201cGiant Eel Eats Parts of Asia.\u201d\u00a0 Imagine how much fun those stories were to write in the 70\u2019s tabloids.\u00a0 Well, take that concept to politics and we have political aliens eating the White House or the Singaporean trade deficit, or whatever.\u00a0 Some stories are just fun to write, so they get written.\u00a0 They used to not be published.\u00a0 Now they are.<\/span><\/p>\n For years, we suffered as societies with \u201cFake Science<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 Drug companies that reported studies on their own drugs, treatments that didn\u2019t always make sense, studies that could never be repeated. \u00a0Many of them were the foundation of entire theories in science.\u00a0 Watson\u2019s \u201cLittle Albert\u201d study of fear acquisition is an example.\u00a0 Replication and variety of generalization paradigms fought against this \u201cfake science\u201d tendency, and now we don\u2019t trust a lot of science that is out there.\u00a0 Well, we are back to the stone age with news.\u00a0 It will run its course, but it will be crucial that as consumers we look onto all news with a little skepticism and demand that reporters stick to their jobs of disseminating, not interpreting the news, or we won\u2019t give them the views.\u00a0 That\u2019s our power. \u00a0<\/p>\n Site Administrator:\u00a0 Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please share this article from down below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please join the email list on the top of the sidebar and you can get these sent to your email.\u00a0 Also follow me on Twitter (https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThinBlueMind<\/a>) for other articles and ideas, and YouTube at\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCfjNw0510ipr3bX587IvAHg<\/a> .<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police Psychology:\u00a0 Fake News by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP \u00a0 My first TV show appearance was in March 1991, a couple of days after the Rodney King Incident in Los Angeles.\u00a0 The president of the police union I worked with asked me to go along on a TV interview because the deck was stacked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17168882],"tags":[17168998,17168830,17168831],"class_list":["post-5957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resilience","tag-fake-news","tag-police-psycyhology","tag-police-stress"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7175,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=7175","url_meta":{"origin":5957,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology: Reproducibility","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"December 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology:\u00a0 Reproducibility by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP \u00a0 So, my 11-year old daughter had to do a science project earlier this year and she decided because her mother was constantly saying that playing on the IPad was hurting her, she would test out whether IPad play really had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":748,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=748","url_meta":{"origin":5957,"position":1},"title":"Police Psychology | Are You Cooperative or Competitive?","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"September 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Are You Cooperative or Competitive? \u00a0 This question resonates for all police psychology from testing to operational to consulting to working with the officer in a therapeutic role.\u00a0 Are you cooperative or competitive? In order to understand this question better, we need to understand the specific differences\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Motives and Opportunity"","block_context":{"text":"Motives and Opportunity","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168884"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police psychology, competitive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/65917-20150924-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3012,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=3012","url_meta":{"origin":5957,"position":2},"title":"Police Psychology | Get Thee to a Conference","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"June 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Get Thee to a Conference by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP \u00a0 My first experience with a professional conference came when I was 35 years old.\u00a0 My partner and I had started a newsletter for mental health of police officers in the late 80\u2019s.\u00a0 In an attempt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Motives and Opportunity"","block_context":{"text":"Motives and Opportunity","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168884"},"img":{"alt_text":"Conference","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Conference-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7132,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=7132","url_meta":{"origin":5957,"position":3},"title":"Police Psychology Book Review: Towards the integration of police psychology techniques to combat juvenile delinquency in K-12 classrooms","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"December 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology Book Review:\u00a0 Rose, Gary. (2013) Towards the integration of police psychology techniques to combat juvenile delinquency in K-12 classrooms by Paul Cech \u00a0 Gary Rose revised his doctoral dissertation to create a book that will be of special interest to readers who are peace officers; teachers; police, school,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168876"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":877,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=877","url_meta":{"origin":5957,"position":4},"title":"Police Psychology | Law Enforcement Spirituality Part 2","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"December 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In New York, as I am sure in many major cities, it is common to find many members of the departments who are Jewish.\u00a0 But isn't their faith antithetical to police work?\u00a0 My conservative Jewish Intern will explain.\u00a0 As we are traveling through the Hanukkah season we must not forget\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Other Tools"","block_context":{"text":"Other Tools","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168889"},"img":{"alt_text":"Star of David, Police Psychology","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Star_of_David-260x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":949,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=949","url_meta":{"origin":5957,"position":5},"title":"Police Psychology | How Policing Can Be Improved with Science","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"January 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | How Policing Can Be Improved with Science \u00a0Marcus Clarke is the author of psysci.co a psychology blog that examines the latest research and explains findings in simple terms. Police forces around the world face increasing pressure, from cuts to funding to new forms of crime, so ensuring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rank and Leadership"","block_context":{"text":"Rank and Leadership","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168887"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60sbO-1y5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6004,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957\/revisions\/6004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/p>\n