I'm of the opinion that Microsoft would be making a mistake with doing either of the two rumored things and that it's in their best interest to associate the new Xbox with positive things instead of letting rumors take over what the next Xbox means.
Now that it has hit Yahoo News and is all over much read gaming websites I think they can't continue to take the stance of not commenting about this particular issue.
The next-generation Xbox is associated with a mandatory internet connection and also with a no used games policy (as the latter will be included in the coverage of the former).
Why does it matter? It's not announced yet.
What you hear first is important. If you think Microsoft can just come out and bring the facts to counter bad information with accurate information you might not be aware of the way our mind fails us.
Psychology tells us that with for example the backfire effect, even trying to correct misconceptions can actually increase misconceptions.
See this example from the CDC:
That early seeded false information can't be countered with good information later is shown if you look at how persistent the belief by many Muslims worlwide is that no Arabs were involved in the 9/11 attacks. (Data from 2007: 59% Turks, 59% Egyptians, 65% Indonesians, 53% Jordanians, 41% Pakistanis and 56 British Muslims)
There are plenty of people here on GAF that take a wait-and-see approach and that is certainly the most rational way of operating, but you have to consider the full market:
Right now every time the next Xbox is the news, there is a repetition of negative rumors. This is also an issue according to psychology research:
"But they are just unconfirmed rumors based on the same sources". More bad news from psychology:
In addition to the all the points about how they should create positive associations it's being distinctly called out that maybe you shouldn't be silent and hope for the best.
Based on this I think they need to get out there quickly and show all the positive things they can, they shouldn't let this narrative that has been building over months continue to snowball.
Further reading:
Washington Post article
Mathew Iredale discovers why myth-busting doesn’t work
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Now that it has hit Yahoo News and is all over much read gaming websites I think they can't continue to take the stance of not commenting about this particular issue.
The next-generation Xbox is associated with a mandatory internet connection and also with a no used games policy (as the latter will be included in the coverage of the former).
Why does it matter? It's not announced yet.
What you hear first is important. If you think Microsoft can just come out and bring the facts to counter bad information with accurate information you might not be aware of the way our mind fails us.
Psychology tells us that with for example the backfire effect, even trying to correct misconceptions can actually increase misconceptions.
See this example from the CDC:
Washington Post said:The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a flier to combat myths about the flu vaccine. It recited various commonly held views and labeled them either "true" or "false." Among those identified as false were statements such as "The side effects are worse than the flu" and "Only older people need flu vaccine."
When University of Michigan social psychologist Norbert Schwarz had volunteers read the CDC flier, however, he found that within 30 minutes, older people misremembered 28 percent of the false statements as true. Three days later, they remembered 40 percent of the myths as factual.
That early seeded false information can't be countered with good information later is shown if you look at how persistent the belief by many Muslims worlwide is that no Arabs were involved in the 9/11 attacks. (Data from 2007: 59% Turks, 59% Egyptians, 65% Indonesians, 53% Jordanians, 41% Pakistanis and 56 British Muslims)
There are plenty of people here on GAF that take a wait-and-see approach and that is certainly the most rational way of operating, but you have to consider the full market:
Washington Post said:The experiments do not show that denials are completely useless; if that were true, everyone would believe the myths. But the mind's bias does affect many people, especially those who want to believe the myth for their own reasons, or those who are only peripherally interested and are less likely to invest the time and effort needed to firmly grasp the facts.
Right now every time the next Xbox is the news, there is a repetition of negative rumors. This is also an issue according to psychology research:
Washington Post said:The research also highlights the disturbing reality that once an idea has been implanted in people's minds, it can be difficult to dislodge. Denials inherently require repeating the bad information, which may be one reason they can paradoxically reinforce it.
Indeed, repetition seems to be a key culprit. Things that are repeated often become more accessible in memory, and one of the brain's subconscious rules of thumb is that easily recalled things are true.
"But they are just unconfirmed rumors based on the same sources". More bad news from psychology:
Washington Post said:Furthermore, a new experiment by Kimberlee Weaver at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and others shows that hearing the same thing over and over again from one source can have the same effect as hearing that thing from many different people -- the brain gets tricked into thinking it has heard a piece of information from multiple, independent sources, even when it has not. Weaver's study was published this year in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The experiments by Weaver, Schwarz and others illustrate another basic property of the mind -- it is not good at remembering when and where a person first learned something. People are not good at keeping track of which information came from credible sources and which came from less trustworthy ones, or even remembering that some information came from the same untrustworthy source over and over again. Even if a person recognizes which sources are credible and which are not, repeated assertions and denials can have the effect of making the information more accessible in memory and thereby making it feel true, said Schwarz.
In addition to the all the points about how they should create positive associations it's being distinctly called out that maybe you shouldn't be silent and hope for the best.
Washington Post said:Another recent study found that when accusations or assertions are met with silence, they are more likely to feel true, said Peter Kim, an organizational psychologist at the University of Southern California. He published his study in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
Based on this I think they need to get out there quickly and show all the positive things they can, they shouldn't let this narrative that has been building over months continue to snowball.
Further reading:
Washington Post article
Mathew Iredale discovers why myth-busting doesn’t work
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias