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?