FACTS CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE

FROM THE BOOK “UNSPUN: FINDING FACTS IN A WORLD OF [DISINFORMATION]”

BY BROOKS JACKSON AND KATHLEEN HALL JAMIESON

Presented by Quazaye Konkel

“GREY GOOSE” EFFECT• THE BELIEF THAT HIGHER PRICES PREDISPOSES CONSUMERS TO THINK THAT

A PRODUCT IS BETTER, EVEN WHEN IT’S NOT - COMPANIES DEPEND ON THE PUBLIC TAKING THE MENTAL SHORTCUT,

“EXPENSIVE IS BETTER”- PRICE= QUALITY FALLACY

• EXAMPLES INCLUDE: PEPSI, GREY GOOSE VODKA, COLLEGES

CHUCK HYSONG’S STORY• TYPICAL FOR SERIOUSLY ILL PEOPLE TO FALL PREY TO QUACKERY AND

MEDICAL FRAUD… - THE SERIOUSLY ILL ARE MORE DESPERATE, AND THEREFORE MORE WILLING TO SPEND MORE MONEY ON “ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES” THAT MAY OR MAY NOT CAUSE MORE DAMAGE TO THEIR HEALTH

SELLING FALSE HOPE• USING PRODUCTS TO MAKE PROMISES THAT THEY CAN’T UPHOLD

“THIS PRODUCT IS SURE TO CURE CANCER!”

“100% CURE RATE…”

WHAT REALLY KILLS WOMEN• “AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC”

-THE MENTAL BIAS THAT GIVES MORE WEIGHT TO VIVIDNESS AND EMOTIONAL IMPACT THAN TO ACTUAL PROBABILITY

- THE MORE OFTEN WE HEAR OF SOMETHING, THE MORE LIKELY WE ARE TO MISTAKE ITS ACTUAL FREQUENCY

• EXAMPLES INCLUDE…

SHARK ATTACKS

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-08-16-sharkweek1.jpg

Common Misconceptions Misconception #1: Sharks are basically all the same.

Misconception #2: Sharks are indiscriminate eating machines; they eat anything.

Misconception #3: Great Whites have poor vision and attach divers and surfers in wetsuits, mistaking them for pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), their main prey.

Misconception #4: Shark attacks are common and your chances of getting attacked during water activities (like surfing and diving) are high.

Misconception #5: Sharks are the biggest predators of the ocean and we should fear them.

THE TRUTH

SHARK ATTACKS ACCOUNT FOR ONLY 5 DEATHS A YEAR; YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE ATTACKED BY A COW!

Look out, I think it means business…

1997: DEADLY MISINFORMATION

Breast Cancer44%

Heart Disease 23%

Cancer (General)12%

Other/Don't Know21%

What is the leading cause of death for all women?

Breast Cancer Heart Disease Cancer (General) Other/Don't Know

Figures courtesy of CBS/NYT Poll, May 1997

THE FACTS

Heart Disease Stroke Lung Cancer Chronic Respitory Diseases

Breast Cancer Diabetes

348,994

96,26368,668 65,668 41,620 38,781

Lifesaving FactsWhat really kills women

Figures courtesy National Center for Health Statistics, 2003

FACTS CHANGE HISTORY• MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE TRUTH ABOUT MAJORITY OPINION IS MORE

POWERFUL THAN WE THINK. - STUDIES SHOW THAT AMERICANS UNDERESTIMATED THE STRENGTH OF PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR DESEGREGATION DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN 1960S - STUDY CONDUCTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA SHOW THAT LAWYERS BELIEVE OTHER LAWYERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE UNETHICAL THAN THEMSELVES - “IF [THEY] WERE TO OBSERVE AN ETHICAL INFRACTION, [THEY] MIGHT BE LESS LIKELY TO SPEAK UP.”

A MILITARY DUTY TO LIE“ALL WARFARE IS BASED ON DECEPTION.”

~ GENERAL SUN TZU

• SOME MILITARY COMMANDERS THINK IT NECESSARY TO DECEIVE THE ENEMY, AND SOMETIMES THAT MEANS THE PUBLIC AS WELL

THE FALKLANDS WAR• REPORTERS ARE DISCOURAGED FROM THINKING THERE WOULD BE A

“NORMANDY-STYLE” OPERATION, LEAVING THE PUBLIC TO THINK NO MAJOR BATTLES WOULD BE ENGAGED

• “I do not see it as deceiving the press or the public; I see it as deceiving the enemy. What I am trying to do is win. Anything I can do to help me win is fair as far as I’m concerned, and I would have thought that that was what what the Government and the public and the media would want too, provided the outcome was the one we were all after.”

~ Sir Terrence Lewin, chief of British Defense

NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND HUSSEIN• THE 2003 AMERICAN

INVASION OF IRAQ WAS JUSTIFIED BY THE BELIEF THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS IN POSSESSION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

THE BOTTOM LINE• MOST WARS ARE STARTED AND FOUGHT UNDER FALSE PRETENSES!

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, VIETNAM WAR, AND TWO IRAQ WARS

• FACTS ARE IMPORTANTINFORMATION IS WITHHELD FROM THE PUBLIC/ “CLASSIFIED INFORMATION”