A new study finds the Internet makes you feel smarter
COLUMBIA - According to a recent study by Yale University, reading things on the Internet makes you feel more knowledgeable about a subject than you actually are.
According to the Yale study published in the March 30 edition of the Journal of Experimental Psychology, getting information on the Internet tricks our brains into believing it knows more about a subject.
In an interview with Business Insider, Frank Keil, the senior author of the paper said, "The cognitive effects of ‘being in search mode' on the Internet may be so powerful that people still feel smarter even when their on-line searches reveal nothing."
The study conducted nine different experiments, each with more than 1,000 participants. In each of the experiments, people rated how much they felt they knew about a subject and compared it to getting information through different means.
According to the study, the effect was so strong people would say they had a strong understanding of the subject even if they had wrong or incomplete information.
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