After watching and engaging with all of my peer's presentations, I gained knowledge on various unique topics. I even learned more about my own topics, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and Media Consolidation. A few of the topics my peers discussed that stood out to me were cancel culture, confirmation bias, and the illusory truth effect. These topics stood out to me for two specific reasons: the uniqueness they provide and how they have evolved and changed our society.
The first topic I am going to be discussing is cancel culture. Cancel culture can be defined as a group of people whose goal is to remove a specific individual, organization, or platform's power. It is when a group of people come together to reject or stop supporting someone due to an offensive slur, act, or behavior toward another individual. An example would be if someone were to tweet something online that was typically seen as controversial to the moral or social norms of the society. A group of people online would then enter the platform and "cancel" that person or attack them to make them aware that what they are saying may be wrong or offensive to some people. The goal of this act is ultimately to hold people accountable for their actions. It is a way for people to voice their opinions while also protecting certain groups or classes of people.
An example of cancel culture in the real world would be when the Swedish YouTube star Felix Kjellberg was canceled for using the N-word in one of his videos in January 2017. Not only was he attracted by viewers on YouTube, but he also lost thousands of viewers, and Disney even announced that they were going to cut ties with him even though, at the time, he was the world's highest-paying YouTuber. Not long after, he was dropped from the Google Preferred advertising program, and his YouTube Red series was canceled. Although he later posted an apology for using the racial slur, the damage was done, he was canceled from all platforms, and his reputation has been affected ever since.
The next topic that piqued my interest was confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is defined as the tendency to make a decision unintentionally based on our previous existing notions, beliefs, knowledge, stereotypes, etc. Even though you may perceive this as a positive thing at first glance, it can eventually lead to poor decisions due to the possibility of one distorted reality. I learned that typically, we as humans are bombarded with new information every day making it very difficult to differentiate the difference between true and false information, then making one's confirmation bias skewed.
The last topic and the main topic that stood out to me during my peer's presentations was when the Illusory Truth Effect was discussed. This is the theory or tendency for someone to believe something is true after constantly being exposed to it; the more times that individual hears the same statement, as long as it's plausible, the truer it may seem. This effect is amazing to me because not only does it affect every single person, but also it can persuade the smartest people to believe false information without even questioning it.
In the presentation, the quote "repetition makes a lie sound so true" stood out to me for various reasons. One main reason it stood out to me was because of how true it is. Many of these can connect the Illusory Truth Effect to social media. Thousands of blogs, tweets, campaigns, and news media are shared daily; however, within those thousands of posts or news sources, you will also find fake news. Due to the Illusory Truth Effect, even if you see those posts and know they are not true, if you continue to view them for an extended period of time, eventually, you will start to believe them. Many companies and political figures share inaccurate information over and over again, convincing their viewers of inaccurate information.
For example, maybe you work at an events company and love your manager; however, after a few weeks on the job, you start hearing your coworkers complaining about how terrible she is and all their bad experiences with her. The following week, you then find yourself hating on and participating in the gossip about your manager, even though nothing directly has happened to you; once you start hearing these negative stories from other people, you begin twisting your own experiences, deciding she is a bad manager.
In conclusion, I am astonished at how often and how easy it is to use the Illusory Truth Effect. Looking back on my life, I realize that not only is this happening on social media and in politics, but it also happens in schools, with friends, and even with family. Whether that is believing false information or buying something you really don't need, the illusory truth effect is all around us every single day. It is our responsibility as a society to make sure we educate ourselves and do our own research when learning or providing information, because as everyone always says, never believe the internet and never believe a rumor because 98% of the time, that's all it is, a rumor.
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