Transcript Facts can save your life

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
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.
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-08-16-sharkweek1.jpg
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
What is the leading cause of death for all women?
Other/Don't Know
21%
Cancer (General)
12%
Breast Cancer
44%
Heart Disease
23%
Breast Cancer
Figures courtesy of CBS/NYT Poll, May 1997
Heart Disease
Cancer (General)
Other/Don't Know
THE FACTS
LIFESAVING FACTS
What really kills women
348,994
96,263
Heart Disease
Stroke
Figures courtesy National Center for Health Statistics, 2003
68,668
65,668
Lung Cancer
Chronic Respitory Diseases
41,620
38,781
Breast Cancer
Diabetes
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 IMPORTANT
INFORMATION IS WITHHELD FROM THE PUBLIC/ “CLASSIFIED INFORMATION”