Hi, I'm Diane Groussell and I'm also known as Silver
Disobedience and I want to thank you for joining me today and say
welcome because in this podcast I am going to talk about what so
a topic that I believe might actually ultimately become my
most important podcast ever. Today I'll be discussing one of
my favorite things to observe and study.
It's called the Phenomenon of Continued Influence Effect or
CIE Continued Influence Effect is where misinformation or
misleading information continues to influence people's beliefs
and judgments even after the information has been corrected
or debunked. CIE Continued influence effect
highlights the lingering impact of false or inaccurate
information on individuals thoughts and subsequent decision
making processes. And let me tell you, I think
societally the impact of continued influence effect has
been accelerating exponentially. And I don't think this is a good
thing. Research shows that when we
encounter information, it can create a lasting impression,
especially if it's associated with fear.
More so, even after being presented with corrective
information, the initial misinformation can still shape
our perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes for a long time unless
we choose to challenge them. This occurs due to factors like
cognitive biases, memory distortions, fears, or the
influence of prior knowledge and preconceived notions.
Essentially, even when people are aware that new evidence has
been presented by very credible resources that verifies prior
information as true, false or misleading, people still resist
even just considering the new information, so they stay stuck
and influenced by the original misinformation.
And that's a serious thing. Continued influence effect.
CIE has significant implications in areas such as public opinion,
health, science, politics, and the spread of misinformation,
particularly on the Internet. In this digital age, it
underscores the importance of challenging questioning and
correcting false information effectively and highlights the
need for all of us to constantly apply our critical thinking
skills. Being aware of the impact of
continued influence effect can really affect our decision
making. Overall, a way to look at
continued influence effect is like the childhood game of
telephone. Remember we lined up and the
teacher or a friend gave us an original message, a sentence to
repeat, and as that message got passed along from ear to ear
quietly with whispers, it gets distorted and twisted as it's
passed. By the end, it's almost not even
recognizable. So the next time you hear news,
let's Fact Check it via multiple sources from all perspectives
before you pass it on. And it's important that those
different perspectives and sources include even those you
can't even stomach the thought of reading.
But why you want to do this is because you are a smart person
who does not want to be adversely impacted.
You know, by continued influence effect.
You don't want to succumb to the ignorance it causes.
And you want to learn to be a critical thinker because you
never know when continued influence effect might rear its
ugly head. So how do we develop critical
thinking skills to to counter this phenomenon of continued
influence effect so we can make more informed judgments and
choices? Well, here are some strategies
to enhance your critical thinking.
Number one, start with questioning your assumptions.
Encourage skepticism. Examine the underlying
assumptions of the information that's presented to you.
Ask yourself, why do I believe something?
Why do I believe this? And I ask whether there really
is good information to support it from, again, multiple
sources, including those you might agree or disagree with.
Which brings me to two seek diverse perspectives.
Expose yourself to a variety of viewpoints and opinions, even
those that may challenge your beliefs.
This can help you evaluate information from different
angles and help you to consider alternative explanations.
Three, verify information, Fact Check the information you
encounter using reliable sources.
Now, I'm going to be the first one to tell you reliable sources
these days. Well, they're tricky to find.
You really have to look for evidence, corroborating sources
and expert opinions to support or debunk claims, and it's going
to require time and effort. It can't just be, you know, you
listen to whatever the first person says.
There was a great line that Colon General Colin Powell said
one time. That said, the news is never as
good or as bad as the first report.
You have got to do your homework 4.
Evaluate the source, assess the credibility and expertise of the
sources that are providing you with information.
Consider the factors such as their qualification, their
reputation, and very important, there are potential biases and
conflicts of interest. Right about now, pretty much all
the news we're getting on most outlets is supported by
advertisers. It's always been the case, but
it's the case now more than ever.
We're in a 24/7 365 news cycle and all of these outlets need
advertisers to keep their programming on the air.
That's how program is paid for by advertisers or contributors.
But right now most of it that you're seeing is advertisers.
So those advertisers may have a particular bias that they want
to keep pushing forward. It's up to you to figure that
out. I'm not going to tell you what
to think. I am just telling you to think
#5 consider biases and emotions. You want to be aware of your own
biases and emotional responses because these may influence your
judgment. You have to ask yourself to try
to approach information objectively and critically,
considering the evidence rather than personal preferences or
emotions or what you really just want to hope to believe.
Number six, you have to develop information literacy skills.
This means enhancing your ability to evaluate and
interpret different kinds of information, such as statistics,
scientific studies, and news articles.
Let's talk about statistics for a second.
A very famous ad campaign. No need to mention.
The advertiser says 4 out of five dentists recommend X.
OK, now what you don't know from that statistic is was the
inventor of XA parent who sent four of his or her children to
dental school. Therefore, four of his children
recommend the product that he's promoting.
So that could be one possibility.
And this is just. I'm just OP lining on
possibilities here for you to consider because you don't have
to be a mathematical genius to understand statistics, but you
want to question them. Another could be.
Well, we were doing a poll and when we got to five people, one
disagreed, 4 agreed. So let's just stop it right
here. So four out of five did agree.
There's different ways statistics can be skewed and
trust me, I know this first hand.
I've worked in science for 30 something years.
Scientific studies. You also have to consider who's
behind the study. If I tell you that watching my
scientific studies say that you will be, you know, smarter,
better, cooler by always listening to the Silver
Dispedians podcast by Diane Groussel, well, I could have
done a study on that. But it doesn't mean I actually
didn't have a bias in the results in the questions I asked
the people who were participating in the study.
So you want to keep this in mind.
So you need to learn to distinguish between reliable
sources and those that may be unreliable or biased. 7.
You need to reflect on your own thinking regularly, reflect on
your own thinking processes, and be open to reviewing your
beliefs when presented with new evidence or alternative
viewpoints. Cultivate intellectual humility.
Who? It is not easy.
I am not going to tell you it is easy to be intellectually
humble. But there is a benefit in being
willing to change your mind when you've been presented with a
really good argument that's based on sound facts that are
supported from credible resources.
Engage in thoughtful discussions.
Engaging in respectful, evidence based discussions with others
can help you to refine your own thinking.
They can also expose you to different perspectives.
Constructive debates, which I will say are extremely rare
these days. Constructive debates are not
emotional, they are not based on how someone feels, they are
based on facts, and they challenge assumptions and they
improve critical thinking skills.
So I encourage debate in the truest form, which is sticking
to the facts, to support your argument 9.
Stay informed about your cognitive biases.
Familiarize yourself with common cognitive biases that can impact
your decision making, such as confirmation bias, which is, oh
I believe this, and so does John.
Therefore we're right. Availability bias, where you are
only searching the immediate available information and not
digging any further. Anchoring bias, which is I feel
this and that's it. You know, this is anchored in
me, OK? Being aware of these biases can
help you mitigate their influence on your thinking.
By consistently applying these strategies, all of us can
develop our critical thinking skills.
We can become more discerning consumers of information and
better resist continued influence effect.
Now, if we wanted to take this step further, if you want to
learn how and really understand how and why you, we each hold on
dearly and tightly to certain conscious and maybe even
unconscious perceptions. There are exercises that you can
try. You can practice reflection on
your own thinking process, and this is a valuable process for
developing greater self-awareness and improving
your critical thinking skills. So here's some strategies that
you can use to practice reflection 1.
Journaling, Journaling, doodling, scribbling, anything.
If you can, set aside some time to write down your thoughts and
beliefs and your opinions in a notebook someplace that no one
ever has to see. This is your personal space, but
writing down your thoughts, beliefs and opinions on various
topics and reflecting and considering why you hold certain
beliefs and what evidence supports them and whether there
are any biases or assumptions influencing your thinking.
Just free form thinking two that would lead you into questioning
challenging your own assumptions and beliefs by asking yourself
probing questions. So for example, ask why do I
hold this particular belief? What evidence or reasoning is
supporting it? Are there alternative
perspectives, or maybe evidence that I could be overlooking #3?
Risk taking? A really good self-assessment?
Evaluate your own thinking processes.
Try to identify any cognitive biases or logical fallacies that
might be influencing your judgments.
Reflect on moments when you've fallen victim to these biases
and consider how might I approach some similar situations
differently in the future? 4 Seek feedback.
Discuss your thoughts and ideas with others, others who might
have different perspectives or people you respect because
they're critical thinkers. Ask for their feedback and
insights. Expect to be challenged.
Hope you're challenged. This can help you gain new
insights. Discover your blind spots, and
challenge your own thinking #5. Learn from your mistakes.
When you realize that you've made a thinking error or held an
incorrect belief, that is a growth moment.
Take the opportunity to reflect on why it happened.
What did you learn from this? Use these critical experiences
as priceless lessons because they each help you refine your
critical thinking skills. Sips engage in metacognition.
Now that's a big word, but really it's an interesting it's
an interesting word and process. Metacognition refers to thinking
about thinking during and after engaging with new information or
making decisions, pause and reflect on the mental processes
you use to come to those decisions.
Consider how you arrived at your conclusion, what evidence or
reasoning you relied on, and whether there were any biases or
shortcuts that may have influenced your thinking. 7 This
is one of my favorite. I like to engage in hypnosis,
mindfulness, and meditation. Practicing hypnosis,
mindfulness, or meditation in a variety of ways can really help
you develop self-awareness and the ability to observe your
thoughts without judgement. This can createspace for
reflection and help you recognize patterns or biases in
your thinking. So remember that reflection
questioning. It's an ongoing process.
It takes time and it takes practice to develop the skills
necessary to notice and question and correct the phenomenon of
continued influence, effect or CIE.
But by intentionally setting it, setting aside time for
reflection, and applying critical thinking skills to your
own thoughts and beliefs, you can become more self aware and
improve your ability to think critically.
I'm Diane Grisel and I'm also known as Silver Dispenings.
If you like this podcast, I would ask you to please
subscribe. And if you notice I'm not
telling, I will never tell you what to think.
My only request is that you try to think that you do think.
Don't believe everything you hear, including me.
Thank thanks a lot for joining me.
Hit subscribe.