John Zalon, Inna Kavensky, and ‘Psychology Facts’: Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything You See Online

“Psychology Facts”?

In a since-deleted tweet, a netizen that goes by Jhon Zalon on Twitter talked about how hand gestures supposedly indicate if a person is confident or not about what they’re saying. He attached a photo collage with a headline of “Psychology Facts” and select photos of Bongbong Marcos and Vice President Leni Robredo, who are both candidates for presidency in the next year’s elections.

A psychology professor/Tiktok star debunked it

As a teacher by profession, you should practice critical thinking and not believe and share any random thing that is labeled “psychology facts.” I suggest removing this.

— Inna Kanevsky (@Dr_Inna) October 8, 2021

Psychologist Inna Kavensky, who is a professor of psychology at San Diego Mesa College in California, USA and is also famous on Tiktok for her content debunking psychology myths, came across Zalon’s tweets and told him not to believe “any random thing that is labeled ‘psychology facts’”, indirectly saying that these supposed “facts” are actually a myth.

He tried to defend his statement with . . . approval ratings?

1/3 Sources daw ng Psychology Facts. Reading 101. 💩 pic.twitter.com/2nCcD1Qu71

— Jhon Zalon, LPT 💎 (@jhonzalon) October 9, 2021

On his Facebook account, Zalon posted a long litany, telling Dr. Inna that she should “practice critical thinking” and “know the different kind of hand gestures and its interpretations” before telling her to just turn her attention to her own country then bringing up . . . government approval ratings? We’re still not sure where he was going with that introduction. To brag, maybe?

. . . and his sources of “Psychology Facts”?

3/3 Sources daw ng Psychology Facts. Reading 103. 💩 pic.twitter.com/J4KCp4Gntn

— Jhon Zalon, LPT 💎 (@jhonzalon) October 9, 2021

Well, he did eventually go back to the actual topic of sources for his claims. Unfortunately, the “sources” he cited are mostly blog posts without citations. He took quotes from several different links out of context to support his claim.

LF: *Actual* reliable sources

Oh and Mr. Zalon, (@jhonzalon )
When you cite actual empirical studies as evidence of that specific claim, we can discuss their merits. Blog posts, Healthline, or commentary by individual psychologists without citations are not empirical evidence.

— Inna Kanevsky (@Dr_Inna) October 9, 2021

But Dr. Inna is still looking for actual empirical evidence. After she saw Zalon’s post, she replied that he needed to “cite actual empirical studies as evidence of that specific claim” to actually support his claim. Because again, most of his quoted sources came from blog posts and even “contradict each other, and don’t support your original fake fact.”

Sir, your links are not actual research sources, contradict each other, and don’t support your original fake fact about gestures and lying. Take that down, and do better.

— Inna Kanevsky (@Dr_Inna) October 10, 2021

A lot of Filipinos agreed with Dr. Inna

Even a Filipino psychologist said that the so-called “evidence” wasn’t made for the local context, so it couldn’t be used to prove what Zalon was trying to prove anyway.

Exactly! All of the research that claims anything even marginally significant on gestures and lying ignores cultural differences and even issues like neurodivergent participants. But he didn’t site any actual research anyway.

— Inna Kanevsky (@Dr_Inna) October 10, 2021

Well, it does and it doesn’t: his claim isn’t supported at all, but the other claims in this article are overstated. Also, the clips used are all of Americans — and your culture may have different norms and expectations.

— Inna Kanevsky (@Dr_Inna) October 10, 2021

Filipinos have also asked Dr. Inna to make a video on the topic of “hand gestures.” She delivered, complete with a thread of links to actual empirical studies:

By request: humans can’t really rely on body language to detect lying. And of course, using random photographs is even more useless than watching people talk. Most sources shown in the video will be linked in the thread. pic.twitter.com/ngtzP55f2l

— Inna Kanevsky (@Dr_Inna) October 10, 2021

Zalon apologized

Since @jhonzalon understood his error, even if it took a while, & also reached out to my FB page to apologize, I consider the argument over. I know many of my Filipino followers are involved with the political aspect of this situation, but I have no say in your elections. pic.twitter.com/tMNCwF57XL

— Inna Kanevsky (@Dr_Inna) October 11, 2021

Three days after the tweet that started it all was posted, Zalon issued an apology for “not fact check[ing].” He also addressed Dr. Inna to say that he “acknowledge[s her] expertise in [her] field” and thanks her for educating him about the so-called “psychology facts” he posted. But he ended his post by saying he stands by the caption (i.e. hand gestures say something about one’s confidence; see first point subheading above) because it was his “personal experience”. So did he really understand what Dr. Inna was trying to say? Not sure.

Lesson learned

Probably. We hope.

It’s a lesson learned not just for netizen Jhon Zalon, but also for all of us. We really shouldn’t believe everything we find on the internet unless it’s verified and backed up with credible sources. This is most important during this critical time of campaigning for the upcoming elections. And we need to engage in discourse properly and not to stoop to personal attacks and derogatory remarks. It’s better to educate, not hate, after all.

What do you think of this issue?