Why the First Reaction Is Almost Always Wrong

Mr Murugan and Ms Fong · Oct 19, 2026 · 3m

IN THIS EPISODE

- Why one word changes how far apost travels, and why truth has nothing to do with it

- The MIT study that tracked adecade of news on Twitter and found falsehood consistently outrunning fact

- Outrage's three-for-one deal:engagement, identity, certainty — none of which a calm, accurate take can offeryou

- Why a headline can make you angryin half a second, before you've finished reading it

- The three-second tell

THE RESEARCH, AND WHERE WESIMPLIFIED IT

We'd rather state the limitsourselves than have them found in the comments. The 20% figure comes from Bradyet al. (2017), which…