Misguided: The Podcast

Misguided: The Podcast explores how social and psychological forces shape our understanding of the world. Hosted by social scientist Matthew Facciani, the show delves into the latest insights from sociology, psychology, and information science. Matthew shares his own research and engages in thought-provoking conversations with guests from diverse backgrounds. matthewfacciani.substack.com

Misguided: The Podcast is a science podcast hosted by Matthew Facciani, with 22 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Matthew Facciani hosts Misguided: The Podcast, a science show with 22 episodes published.

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  Misguided: The Podcast

  How Does Journalism Earn Trust?

  May 13, 202642 minS0

  <p>In this episode of Misguided: The Podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Patrick Johnson, a journalism scholar at Marquette University whose work focuses on news literacy, trust in journalism, and the relationship between media institutions and the communities they serve. Before entering academia, Patrick spent years teaching high school journalism, an experience that continues to shape how he thinks about journalism not simply as information delivery, but as a form of public education.</p><p>We begin by discussing why trust in journalism has become so fractured, and why treating distrust as a single problem misses the bigger picture. Pa...

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  Misguided: The Podcast

  Reality in Ruins: How Conspiracy Theory Became an American Evangelical Crisis

  Mar 24, 202642 minS0

  <p>In this episode of Misguided: The Podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Jared Stacy, a theologian and former pastor who studies how conspiracy theories take root within evangelical communities. Jared completed his PhD in ethics at the University of Aberdeen and is the author of the new book Reality in Ruins, which examines how disinformation becomes uniquely resistant to correction when it gets woven into religious belief.</p><p>We start by talking about Jared’s concept of holy paranoia: the idea that conspiracy theory isn’t a bug in American evangelicalism but a feature. The core argument is that o...

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  Misguided: The Podcast

  The Hidden Social Forces Behind Misinformation

  Feb 26, 202644 minS0

  <p>In this episode of Misguided: The Podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Cecilie Steenbuch-Traberg, a professor at the Copenhagen Business School who studies how social context shapes our susceptibility to misinformation, and what interventions actually work to counter it. Cecilie’s path into the field took a detour through marketing before she found her true passion: not trying to persuade people, but protecting them from being persuaded.</p><p>We start by talking about how the classic pre-bunking games (like Bad News and Harmony Square) hold up when you test them in more realistic social conditions. The short answer is t...

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  Misguided: The Podcast

  Why We Believe Misinformation and How We Can Protect Ourselves Against it

  Feb 24, 202626 minS0

  <p>Here is my live video chat with Mike Nellis as a bonus podcast episode. I really enjoyed our conversation about the social psychology of why we believe false information, and how we can strengthen our media literacy through strategies like critical ignoring. We also discussed the broader structural and platform-level challenges that make today’s information environment so difficult to navigate.</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit matthewfacciani.substack.com/subscribe

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  Misguided: The Podcast

  The Psychology of Virality in the Age of AI

  Jan 20, 20261h 16mS0

  <p>In this episode of Misguided: The Podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Steve Rathje, who is a social psychology postdoc at NYU, and a soon-to-be assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Steve’s work sits at the intersection of psychology, social media, and artificial intelligence. Steve studies how platform design, attention, and emerging technologies shape political polarization, belief formation, and online behavior.</p><p>We begin by talking about Steve’s non-traditional path into psychology, which started in theater before turning into a research career focused on how people think, feel, and behave online. From there, we dig into some o...

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