By Renee Hobbs
Media Literacy IN ACTION
Questioning the Media
2nd
Edition
CHAPTER 9
how do people decide who and what to trust?
Learning Outcomes
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Examine how trust affects relationships, the workplace,and the happiness and well-being of individuals
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Reflect on the relative value of authority, expertise, and authenticity as dimensions of trust
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Understand how distrust and polarization have a corrosive impact on social institutions and the democratic process
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Appreciate public shaming, social norms, and the process of finding common ground
Decisions to trust or mistrust rely on judgments about authority, expertise and credibility
MEDIA LITERACY LEARNING MODEL
KEY IDEAS FROM CHAPTER 9
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​Social trust is vital to human functioning, but trust and mistrust are learned behaviors that occur within families, organizations, societies, and cultures.
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Declining social trust is contributing to the erosion of civil discourse, political paralysis, alienation, disengagement of individuals from political and civic institutions, and uncertainty over national and global policy.
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Terms like fake news and disinformation have become insult terms to denigrate political opponents and media industries as hyperpartisan messages create damaging stereotypes, reducing people’s ability to find common ground.
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To determine whether a media message can be trusted, it is important to examine the author’s purpose and motive by looking for clues in the text, the context, and the perceptions and knowledge of the larger community.
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people’s distrust of traditional forms of authority and expertise increase, they rely on new types of thought leaders whose charisma and appeal communicates authenticity.
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Online shaming and cancel culture are well-meaning efforts to establish social norms, but these practices may create a culture of grievance and self-righteousness that deepens polarization.
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Intellectual humility helps people learn for a lifetime because it decreases confirmation bias and helps diminish dangerous us-vs-them stereotypes.​
CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE
I'M AN ORIGINAL CATCHPHRASE
Write a Memoir on the Experience of Trust
Decisions about trust and mistrust are among the most profound decisions we make in life. Write a short personal memoir to reflect on a time when you made a decision to trust certain information or a certain person. A memoir is a highly personal essay that uses a combination of memory and imagination to tell a brief story that offers insight or value to readers. Consider these questions:
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• What situation or memory represents a time when you had to make a decision to trust or mistrust?
• What factors influenced your decision? Was it a good decision? Why or why not?
• What role did communication or media play in your experience with trust or mistrust?
• In general, how have your life experiences and relationships shaped your perspectives on trust and mistrust?​
PRACTICE INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY ​​
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Increase your intellectual humility by making a list of three specific things that you know a lot about. Within these topics, generate ideas about possible things that believe are true but that might be wrong. One way to approach this is to identify the specific limitations you have (including time, expertise, or other factors) that affect your ability to understand and evaluate the complexity of a topic. Another strategy is to try to estimate your certainty:
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On what specific topics are you 90% certain that your views are accurate?
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On what topics are you only 50% certain that your views are accurate?
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What are the benefits of increasing your intellectual curiosity?
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Click on the link to share your reflection. You can also view and respond to comments of other people who have offered their insights as well.
HAVE A COURAGEOUS CONVERSATION
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Visit the Braver Angels website (www.braverangels.com) and get paired with someone who is very different from yourself for a 1:1 conversation. The process involves an hour-long conversation between two people using a structured protocol or conversation guide. This activity emphasizes storytelling, listening and learning. As both people say their piece, neither is trying to persuade. No one is teaching the other or giving feedback about how to think or say things differently. Trust develops when you take turns answering a series of questions of increasing depth, listening without interrupting, responding with you learned about the other’s views and experiences, and discovering wht you have common.
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Learn more about how Pierre Bourdieu influenced media literacy educators, researchers & activists
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GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
"Man lives in a world of meaning. What he sees and hears means what he will or might handle."
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--George Herbert Mead, 1926
