KenDBerryMD

Forced equivalence

AI detected as: False Equivalence

Presenting two things as equally valid when they aren't. By giving equal weight to a well-supported position and a fringe one, it manufactures the appearance of legitimate debate. Feels like fairness — "hearing both sides" — even when one side has overwhelming evidence.

Boykoff & Boykoff (2004) on media false balance

Performed authenticity

AI detected as: Manufactured Authenticity

The deliberate construction of "realness" — confessional tone, casual filming, strategic vulnerability — designed to lower your guard. When someone appears unpolished and honest, you evaluate their claims less critically. The spontaneity is rehearsed.

Goffman's dramaturgy (1959); Audrezet et al. (2020) on performed authenticity

Association

AI detected as: Lifestyle Integration

Pairing a new idea, product, or person with something you already feel positively or negatively about. The goal is to transfer your existing emotional response without any logical connection. It works below conscious awareness.

Evaluative conditioning (Pavlov); IPA 'Transfer' technique (1937)

Forced equivalence

Presenting two things as equally valid when they aren't. By giving equal weight to a well-supported position and a fringe one, it manufactures the appearance of legitimate debate. Feels like fairness — "hearing both sides" — even when one side has overwhelming evidence.

Boykoff & Boykoff (2004) on media false balance

Association

Pairing a new idea, product, or person with something you already feel positively or negatively about. The goal is to transfer your existing emotional response without any logical connection. It works below conscious awareness.

Evaluative conditioning (Pavlov); IPA 'Transfer' technique (1937)

Performed authenticity

The deliberate construction of "realness" — confessional tone, casual filming, strategic vulnerability — designed to lower your guard. When someone appears unpolished and honest, you evaluate their claims less critically. The spontaneity is rehearsed.

Goffman's dramaturgy (1959); Audrezet et al. (2020) on performed authenticity

Us vs. Them

Dividing the world into two camps — people like us (good, trustworthy) and people not like us (dangerous, wrong). It exploits a deep human tendency to favor our own group. Once you accept the division, information from "them" gets automatically discounted.

Tajfel's Social Identity Theory (1979); Minimal Group Paradigm

Appeal to authority

Citing an expert or institution to support a claim, substituting their credibility for evidence you can evaluate yourself. Legitimate when the authority is relevant; manipulative when they aren't qualified or when the citation is vague.

Argumentum ad verecundiam (Locke, 1690); Cialdini's Authority principle (1984)

In-group/Out-group framing

Leveraging your tendency to automatically trust information from "our people" and distrust outsiders. Once groups are established, people apply different standards of evidence depending on who is speaking.

Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979); Cialdini's Unity principle (2016)