Transcript gullible reasoin

Reason and Human
Sciences
How gullible is the public?
Agenda
• Think about the idea of being gullible
• Review situations where the public has been gullible.
• Come to conclusions with partner about gullibility.
• END GOAL: Evaluate the reasoning, or lack
thereof, of the public. Use your own reasoning to
make judgments.
Gullible
• EASILY persuaded to believe something
• Credulous, naïve, easily deceived, exploitable,
dupable, impressionable, unsuspecting,
unwary, ingenuous, inexperienced,
unworldly…
Question 1
• Do you think the public is gullible? Explain
with specific instances.
• Do you think you are gullible? Explain with
specific instances.
Coca-Cola cures impotence!
• Late 19th century
creation – cures
morphine addiction,
dyspepsia, headaches,
impotence!
• “ideal brain tonic”
• “a most wonderful
invigorator of sexual
organs”
Guinness is good for you!
1931 report: a pint a day
promotes strength, aids
digestions, relieves
sleeplessness
Iron – post-op patients
and pregnant women
Mars helps you work, rest,
play
1960-90s
229 calories and 30.4g of
sugar
“Work, Rest, Play” - 2008
Sugar = Diet Aid
• 50s, America’s Sugar
Association took out a
series of ads arguing that
sugar could help dieters lose
weight.
• Sugar helps hunger go away
faster and you need less to
keep you full
Protein Needs from McD’s
• Big Mac, milk shake, fries –
all sources of protein!
• FROM THE 1980s!!!!!
• “not only are McDonald’s
meals good to eat, they’re
good for you.”
Recently…
• Dr. Oz
• Flash Diets
• Skinny Water
• Tobacco Ads
• POLITICIANS AND THEIR ADS!!!!
Question 2
• WHY do you think the public is so gullible?
Quote 1
• “We live in such a gullible world. Anything that’s
written, anything that’s posted, anything that is
interpreted one way is taken as truth.” – Keri Hilson
• Agree? Disagree?
• Is one age group more prone to being gullible than
another?
Quote 2
• “There’s a gullible side to the American public. They
can be easily misled.”
• Agree? Disagree?
• How can one country be more gullible than another,
as a whole? Do you agree that Americans are the
MOST gullible?
Quote 3
• “Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who
created the universe, and the vast majority will
believe you. Tell them the pain is wet, and they have
to touch it to be sure.” –George Carlin
• What are the implications of this quote?
• Do you agree with those implications?
Quote 4
• “Fame is proof that people are gullible.” – Ralph
Waldo Emerson
• Explain the logic behind this quote.
• Do you agree with it? Why?