EOTO: Illusory Truth Effect

Illusory Truth Effect -     

The Illusory Truth Effect is an interesting topic I was able to learn more about because of this project, at first I was very overwhelmed by the name but getting to learn what this actually is it made a lot more sense and this was something I have heard about before but never knew it had an actual name for it. Most people have probably learned something about it before as well but now that I know it has an actual name that was invented or any of the research done for this theory. This theory is described as false information getting pushed in your head over and over again, making you believe that it might actually be true when really it is still false and you now believe it. Which is exactly what social media and news sources the whole goal is to get you to believe false information. Where they use the Illusory Truth Effect to do so, most of the time succeeding. 

In 1977 these three researchers Lynn Hasher, David Goldstein, and Thomas Toppino first thought of the Illusory Truth Effect when they brought college students into a lab for them to read true and false statements. As they were reading the statements the students believed that both were accurate, so the researchers did more studies and thinking of this theory. It wasn’t until 2000 to 2010 where this theory started to grow and become a more popular subject for researchers, note this was also the time where the internet and social media became an everyday use. So as we look back on it today it isn’t a surprise that these two topics go hand and hand with each other.

I feel as if this issue of people believing misinformation isn’t talked about enough, I know for me I was always on the outside of fake news or biased information I knew of it and that it was a problem. Never much detail about the topic like I have my first semester of college and it has really opened my eyes of what a real issue this is. A statistic from psychology today said that 70% of twitter posts that are shared were fake rather than real. Personally I think that is a big number. I mean it's over half of the people on twitter which is insane. I look at a lot of things on twitter and to find out that 70% of that could be fake blows my mind. If almost half of the population knew things like that this theory wouldn’t be as big of an issue as it is, because sources keep these things private. 

Which is why we need to make more people aware of the Illusory Truth Effect so they are more open minded, and be able to avoid when they have to face this problem first handedly. One big thing that people should start doing is fact checking their sources. I know a lot of people don’t have time or are too lazy to do so, but it will help big time when it comes to wondering if what we are researching is true or fake. Fact checking is something that I have learned a lot about in my English class so I have been able to understand what that is about, and using it. Another helpful tool would be using Critical Thinking, and that might be hard to do as well just because most people are lazy and don’t care that much, but as in the Illusory Truth Effect article starts it can be one of the best ways to help avoid the Illusory Truth Effect. 

There was a lot that I have learned when researching the Illusory Truth Effect. I found this topic very interesting and something that I hope to continue learning more about in the future in other classes. With that being said there is a lot of great information to be taken away from this theory that most people would be very knowledgeable of learning to help them get real facts from reliable sources. One of the biggest things is whether you know about the Illusory Truth Effect theory or not you still have to be careful of what you see on social media.

 

Anti- War in the News

Anti War - 

    All you ever hear in the news now a days is war, but have you noticed that you never hear about countries not wanting to go to war? That is because it is a topic that is never brought up they somehow always mange to keep it out of the daily newspapers, news stations and other sources. Why do they do that? It has always been a question that crosses my mind because as I was growing up I have always heard that all everyone wants is peace in the world. But now that I pay more attention and try to learn more about the news, it makes more sense. 

    

    I have noticed that when I watch the News that they try to make things a lot more dramatic then it actually is whether they do that by using fake news, spiking the stats, or changing the wording of things. So when gullible people who look at their typical news sources see something about countries going to war and things like that, they don't even question it. They just assume that the only way to fix the problem is go to war, people don't take into consideration that there is a bigger population of people who are anti-war then there is. There are people that trust the news and the information they are posting so much they will believe anything and not even go to check the facts or the opinions of other people.  Only people that like to do research and make sure they are reliable sources will go and search deeper, to where they can find articles like the "American Conservative" and "Anti War". 

    
This is just another reason why people should be more aware of the information they are reading, because as I have learned a lot in both this class as well as english you can never be so sure that the info you are reading is true or not. There are so many who are closed minded and only believe what they see but really they should be going out and exploring new articles not just listening to one source. There is so much out there and especially with the war and anti war argument people just need to branch out and realize that. 

 

EOTO: Netflix

EOTO about Netflix - 

    Everyone today has heard about Netflix, most people today even use it on the daily such as myself.  Have you actually learned the background and information and details of what makes Netflix, Netflix? Personally I haven't until we did these projects and I was able to learn more about the in and outs of Netflix. It was originally founded in 1977 as a DVD rental service but as it became more and more popular it eventually ran its biggest competitor, Blockbuster out of business. Now Netflix does streaming services all over the world and over 151 paid subscribers, being one of the most successful streaming companies in the nation. Like I said before I am a frequent user of Netflix, because it gives me access to watch a variety of different genres 24/7. It makes it very convenient to use, I also travel a lot and Netflix allows me to download movies/TV shows so I can watch them on the plane. It is all apart of that monthly subscription which gives you so much. 

    Without Netflix I feel as if a lot of people would be very lost, even though I am guilty of having days where I spend hours binging and watching shows from time to time. I don't do it daily or that often anymore but there are some who relay on Netflix that is all they do with their lives, like on the weekends and at night. Netflix has definitely changed the way we watch TV before we didn't have the opportunity to watch it from our phones, computers, and other devices. So for them to have come this far with the streaming network and the ability to do what we can today is just incredible, it has made things a lot more convenient. As well as gives people something do when they want a relaxing Friday night on the couch, overall making it a great addition to the 21st Century. 

 

Diffusion Theory of the Phonograph

 

The Diffusion Theory of the Phonograph- 

    As I have talked about in one of my last blog post the history of the phonograph and how and why it got to be where it is today, but in this blog post I am going to be talking about how popular it was with the public. Who were the ones buying it, where were they buying it all of those questions that you might have as to how the phonograph got to be so big. Like stated before Thomas Edison created the Phonograph in 1877 and wanted to mass produce so other people could experience the joy of recording and listening to music like he did. Which started to happen in 1878, where he received $10,000 for manufacturing and 20% profit. 

    Edison brought out his product to the public which got everyone very impressed and amazed. It made it very clear that the idea to record was a real game changer in the world, he wanted everyone to be able to have one in their homes so they could record anything from songs to family messages etc. The press was very into his invention of the phonograph and wrote many articles explaining this new thing, Edison also did a lot of public appearances to promote and get the word out for his invention. The Phonograph was originally priced at $150 which in that time was kind of expensive for most people and not everyone was able to afford them, but Edison released a standard model so everyone could get in on the action and excitement. That brought prices done to only $20 so it became a lot accessible for everyone to be able to experience what Edison did. Unfortunately I was unable to find any research for how many people actually bought this product but from way the music world is still growing and reading different articles about the phonograph, I can tell that this was a very popular product and everyone wanted to have one. Edison always made it easy for people to get access to it like I mentioned up top, he thought this was a great thing and overall changed the world of music forever. 

 

Privacy- 

         While I was watching the Ted Talk videos there were a lot of things that stuck out to me that I have never thought about before revolving around privacy, there are some people that like more privacy then there are others who don't really care. For example my dad is the type of person who doesn't want people to know where he is, he isn't on any social media and likes to live a private life when he can. While other members in our family post about everything and anything and live more of an open life, so watching the Ted Talk about tattoos and how social media and anything you put out there is like a tattoo was really interesting to me. No one in my family are tattoo people so to hear that posting things on social media and whatever you send to people are like a tattoo was definitely an eye opener and made me more aware of things that I put out there because like the video states once it is out there it's there forever. I became aware that it is very easy for people to get our information, once it is in the wrong hands it could be game over for us because they will have everything. After doing some of my own research I found an article that claims that 60% of the apps delisted from the app store don't have a privacy policy which means that they could have any of our information if they wanted. 

    Personally I think the government should be doing something about that because aren't they suppose to keep us safe and "protect" us, they need to be keeping a better eye on companies like that to make sure they aren't using their company for bad and just taking people's personal info. These videos have definitely made me reason that I should be doing a better job at what I am putting in my phone or on social media, I have always been good at watching what I post but I never realized that when I online shop or order food online that they have my credit card information which could lead to my personal information. Overall watching these have made me more aware of how little privacy we have when we put our whole lives on technology whether it be social media or just on our phones. They are always watching us and everything we do. 

    

 

The Invention of the Phonograph- 

    The invention of the phonograph was a pretty big thing that happened during that time period that paved the way for some of the things we get to do today music wise. In 1877 Thomas Edison wanted to come up with a way for him to record some of his favorite songs so he could go back and relisten to them, after doing some experimenting and trial and error his dream finally became a reality. Edison came up with the first ever phonograph in the menlo park lab, where it consisted of a piece of tin foil that was wrapped around a cylinder. There were many improvements over the years compared to the first phonograph and what we have now, it was a continuous work in process. In 1878 Edison started his own company to produce many phonographs and also started inventing other big ideas such as the incandescent light bulb so the phonograph was sort of put on hold during that time. As other businessmen started taking over the phonograph and improving them Edison's phonograph company filed for bankruptcy in 1894 so he could go back and own the rights to his invention. Where he drastically changed the design of it in 1905 and sent out a mass production of the better version of the phonograph. It then became very popular and helped shape the ideas of some of the things that people today use everyday in the music world such as the biggest music streaming services, and being able to have access to it 24/7 anytime we want. 

Edison’s invention of the phonograph really did make a difference in the world, without any of that we might not have the option to listen to music anytime we want whenever we want. Because of the phonograph and the impact it made in the 1890’s it helped today’s society think of different ways to make listening to music a lot more convenient. With that being said we are pretty fortunate today with some of the cool things we have access to in terms of listening to music. In 2021 Spotify has become the biggest streaming service people use to keep up with their favorite artists and listen to their favorite songs 24/7 without ads or interruptions. That isn’t the only option you have when it comes to streaming music, another popular one is Apple Music with 71 million people. With Apple streaming music they make up to 4.1 billion a year just from people paying to listen to unlimited music. That is a ton of money, they are making just by giving people the option to listen to music whenever they want. Not even including what they make off iTunes or the app store or any of their actual Apple products, so to say that Thomas Edison made an impact on music is an understatement. His idea to come up with the phonograph has changed the way we listen to music even today in 2021 and it was genius. For me I use Amazon music everyday and that allows me to listen to anything I want anytime of the day like I had mentioned before so overall the phonograph was a great invention which has made a huge impact on the world and how we are able to listen to music.

The Eight Values of Free Expression

The Eight Values of Free Expression- 

The Eight Values of Free Expression is a big part of how and why America is the way it is today, without these values we the American citizens wouldn’t be able to do a lot of the things that we love doing. Such as being a part of elections, speaking our mind when the government upsets us or being able to express ourselves the way we want too. All of those examples I just listed happen because of the Eight Values of Free Expression. Since a lot of people don’t really think about the Eight values of Free Expression before, I’m going to use real life examples for each one. So you can clearly understand why these eight things are a big deal in our everyday lives. 

Marketplace Ideas- 

John Milton's concept of the Marketplace Idea was a big thing back in the day when he was arguing against the requirement of having a license to be able to print and publish; he believed that readers can benefit from reading morally incorrect books along with correct books so they can see the difference between good and evil. In today’s world something similar is happening but in this case it is with the DC attorney general and Amazon, in May DC attorney general Karl Racine sued Amazon because of the relationships between the first party sellers. Racine believes that it is untrustworthy and uses the first party relationship to stop the completion between amazon and other companies.  

Participation in Self Government- 

In this last election things got pretty heated with both parties the entire time, each candidate had very different views on how they wanted to run the country so it was important to make sure that the citizens participated in the debates to make sure they knew who they were voting for. Presidential elections can be pretty complicated because you are not sure what each party is telling you is true or not. For example in this past presidential debate had approximately 73 million viewers, Fox news being the most watched news channel at that time. Averaging with about 16 million with each news station broadcasting the debate. 

Stable Change- 

Stable change talks about letting the angry citizens speak their mind so it doesn’t result to violence. There have been authorities studying more dangerous groups who act better when the government lets them speak their mind. I’m from Des Moines, Iowa and our governor Kim Reynolds recently passed this law that lets past criminals or anyone with a felony vote. She believes that giving them that second chance will help benefit thoses who are effective the most. Which I thought relates to stable change because she is helping those who made mistakes so they can express their feelings peaceful instead of ending in violence. 

Individual Self Fulfilment- 

Self Fulfillment is a pretty big expression that everyone gets to use on a daily basis, whether that be picking out what clothes to wear, what you want to eat for lunch or who you want to be. That all goes hand and hand with self fulfilment, we Americans are pretty lucky cause we get a lot of freedom of who we want to be. Some countries aren’t as fortunate as we are, such as Afghanistan . A big thing in the news right now is the US withdrew Troops which led the Taliban to take over Afghanistan, which is a bad thing for women because they barely get any freedom now. They don’t have the luxury we do to get to express ourselves or be able to be who they want to be, which makes Americans very lucky to be able to get to do that. 

 

Check on Government Power- 

Unfortunately we have had to deal with some of our presidents abusing their power of being president,it hasn’t happened very often but we still see it from time to time. Some of them just get carried away and do things that take things way too far. So we the people need to make sure that our leaders are doing what they say they would do and not taking advantage of us, since we don’t have the power they do. For example in 1974 37th President Richard Nixton was involved in the "Watergate" Scandal where his party broke into the Democratic Party room months before the election. That might not have happened if he wasn’t already president but since he was he took advantage of this power and did something that wasn’t supposed to be done.  

Promote Tolerance- 

The first amendment is really argued in this expression because we can only use freedom of speech to an extent there are some things that just aren’t meant to be said. Which causes issues since there are some citizens that take freedom of speech too far then they get in trouble and try to use the first amendment to back them up. A more recent case of this happening was in 1989 where the government came up with a law that says you will be punished if you destroy, burn or do any harm to any US flag. This is freedom of speech to an extent because they are now causing harm and violence is involved.  

Promote Innovation- 

Promoting Innovation brings out the good in the first amendment by letting people be creative and express themselves for the good in a positive manner. It allows you to come up with new ideas to promote in the workspace or something great that could benefit people all around. This expression can help make the world a better place and more exciting and interesting environment to live in, no matter where you are. I don’t know about everyone else but I like to have some creativity in my life that makes it more exciting which is exactly what this expression does. 

Protect Dissent- 

It is extremely hard to get the entire United States of America to agree on the same thing. In fact it is impossible, because everyone is different. Everyone grows up differently, comes from different financial situations, and lives totally different lifes. So for everyone to agree on the same government isn’t going to be possible, one side is always going to be upset. With the protection of dissent it gives each side the right to criticize the government and the things they don’t like about each side. It is a good thing actually because voicing our opinion shows that we care about the country and what is going on in it. Such as right now many Americans aren’t agreeing on some of the things Joe Biden is doing and they are criticizing the choices he is making.

Reflecting on The Supreme Court

 

The Supreme Court - 

        While watching the documentary about the history of the Supreme Court, I was able to learn new information and carry over what I have already learned on how the supreme court works. It was interesting to go more in depth about the Supreme Court considering in my past history classes they would only cover the surface of all the courts, so after that video I felt like I am now more knowledgeable and learned more about the justices that are picked. Something that really stood out to me was that the Supreme Court receives up to 100 cases a week and 7,000 a year which I've never heard before, another thing that I've learned was that most of the 100 Justices stay in office for an average time of 16 years if not longer. Something else that I took away from this whole documentary is that when the Supreme Court doesn't take a case they can get a lot of hate from the public and press but they get so many cases a year they just can't take all of them, so they have to go through each case carefully to decide which are the most important ones. The Justices did mention that it can be a difficult decision and they wish they could go through all of the cases but they're just isn't time. I was quite surprised to hear that every time the Justices meet they shake hands every time so it is easier for them to not hold grudges against each other when they have a disagreement. That was interesting to me because I often forget that each president brings in their own Justices that match their opinions so not all the Justices will think the same and will agree on the different ideas that are brought to the table, so for them to recognize that and try to overcome that was neat to hear about. I feel like hearing that also changed the way that I view the Supreme Court, before watching that documentary I just thought of them as the highest court that only gets important cases that none of the other courts could figure out. But after watching that I now see them as a court that gets many cases a day and it takes them a lot of time to go through each one and decide which ones need to be viewed the most. Where the Justices will come in and make their decisions accordingly and they take their job very seriously. I felt like this video did a good job explaining more about the Supreme Court as well as getting to hear from the different Justices to get more of an insider perspectives of what really goes on in the Supreme Court.