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Post #1 - Paranormal and Pseudoscience Assignment 2

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Post #1 - Paranormal and Pseudoscience Assignment 2

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Mediums - Made by Sierra Albis, working individually

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Description:
The website below is a direct link to the celebrity medium Theresa Caputo. On this website, she has a link to advertise her podcast, her tv show, different photos/videos of her work, ways to connect with her (events), and products for purchase.

Connection:
The red flag connection from this website is Appeal to Authority and All Natural. Appeal to authority is apparent as Theresa Caputo is a well known "celebrity" medium. She has been hosted on multiple talk shows and even has her own television show. This use of an authoritative figure (in her case, her celebrity status), is used to lend credibility to the medium services and products she offers. This makes more individuals more gullible to believe in the information she is presenting. It is important for people to apply skepticism before believing a celebrities' claims. The red flag, all natural is also apparent in this website through the products that Theresa Caputo is selling. On her website, she is currently selling an all natural sage kit to get rid of spirits. As we are aware when we apply the critical thinking process, all natural products do not necessarily mean that they are healthy or that they work better. Products are often labelled as "all natural" to entice people to purchase them, and when paired with the endorsement of a celebrity, it is that much more likely to sell. A reason for belief that would connect to this website would be Emotional connection. There are multiple testimonies on her website of individuals being able to connect with their loved ones. If someone is currently grieving or has lost a loved one, they would be that much more likely to spend their money on the services that Theresa offers as their emotions are blurred. As we are aware, this emotional connection ties in with that money piece that is a pseudoscience watch list item. A flaw within this website is that no one is evaluating Theresa's claims.

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The show is about my world, how I balance family, clients and spirit.
Many people ask how it all began. My friend Victoria Woods felt that I was made for TV and this was the perfect way to share my gift with everyone. Her sister Courtney Mullin and friend Jonathan Partridge both producers helped make that a reality. Between TLC, Magilla Entertainment and my incredible crew I've been able to share my life and amazing gift with the world. People ask, "How has your life changed since the show?" I say the only thing that changed is that I have both cameras and spirit following me now. LOL

At the end of the day I'm just Theresa Caputo a medium, wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend from Hicksville.

Faith, love and happiness to you always!!!!

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Theresa's Fan Club Members receive exclusive benefits not available to the general public. 1FanFamily 2Live TheExperience 3Giving BackTo The Fans Connect With Fellow FansExclusive ContentChat ForumsWatch Along Live! Fan Club Exclusive Pre-salesVIP TicketsMeet & Greet ContestsAll Pre-sale Passwords and Links CanBe Found In The Tour Section.

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Description:
This video is from the Kelly Clarkson Show when she had her guest Matt Fraser, a psychic medium, come on to connect with her audience members. Half way through the video, we see Matt stand up and point out in to the audience to mention that a particular individuals mother had passed. He does a small reading for her and briefly talks about all the spirits he sees in the room.

Connection:
The red flag connection from this video is Appeal to Authority and Confirmation Bias. Appeal to authority is apparent in this video, as Kelly Clarkson (a celebrity) is endorsing Matt Frasers TV show and new book that he has published to her audience. As we are aware, this use of authoritative imagery lends so much more credibility to an individuals services or products which is why this red flag connects to this video. It is important to apply skepticism and critical thinking, to evaluate whether or not your celebrity endorsed products are worth the hype or not. Confirmation Bias is another red flag that particularly connects to the ladies reading. As we see in the video, Matt makes many probing guesses and enquiries about this ladies mother. Some of these were likely untrue, but because a few guesses may have been correct, the lady was more likely to believe and remember those "hit" statements that coincided with her beliefs. A reason for belief that connects to this video would be Simplicity. Scientific answers can be hard to understand, where as pseudoscience is easy. If you were to apply critical thinking, it would be clear that Matt is employing cold reading techniques to pick up those signals as to whether or not he is heading in the right direction with his guesses. Matt only needs to have a few more "hits"  than "misses", to make it believable for the person being read.

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Psychic Medium Matt Fraser Proves He Can See Dead People | Sneak Peek

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Description:
This photo was taken from a medium readers Etsy advertisement. As you can see in the image below, the photo has a heart shaped cloud and a message that reads "Connect with a departed loved one - ask that important question.."

Connection:
The reasons for belief that connect to this photo are Patternicity and Emotional Connection. In this photo, we see an image of a cloud in a sky that appears to be in the shape of a heart. Coincidently, this ties in with the messaging. When we apply critical thinking, we know that our brains looks for shapes and faces (patterns) in images. That is often why we see those shapes or objects in a cloud in the sky. This photo also connects to the reason for belief of emotional connection due to the messaging it has. As we are aware, emotions can blur our rational thoughts. Often times mediums will pull off your emotions to get you more likely to purchase or pay for their services. As spoken about in our course, money is a pseudoscience watchlist item. The messaging below about connecting with a loved one and being able to ask that important question, directly tugs on an individuals emotional connection. This makes them more likely to get in contact and request the services of this particular medium.

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The article below is from the Goop website, and is a question and answer session with a research scientist that explored what happens to the brains of mediums when they talk to the other side. As discussed in the article, they were able to control and eliminate cold reading, cueing, rater bias, and fraud through their resource intensive procedure.

Connection:
The red flag connection from this website is Appeal to Authority and Proof by Verbosity. Goop is a well known blog created by Gwyneth Paltrow and highlights many controversial topics. As we are aware, appeal to authority is present in this article as it is being endorsed by a celebrity that many individuals look up to. People are far more likely to believe the claims of an authoritative figure that they look up to, rather than a random individual. This is why it is important to apply skepticism and critical thinking before believing the claims of your favourite celebrity. Proof by Verbosity is another red flag that connects to this article. Julie Beischel, from the Windbridge research centre, has provided such large quantities of information in this article, that it gives the appearance that the information about mediums must be true. However, after conducting my own research, I have noticed that Julie and her team have followed the critical thinking process when conducting this intensive procedure. Therefore, these claims can be backed up. The research team defined the problem and came up with a hypothesis, gathered information, and followed each step thoroughly to come to their conclusion.

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Hypothesis and Emerging Research

Some early observations support this concept (or parts of the theory), and there is scientific interest in elucidating exactly what's at work.

For those who are deeply curious about the work of mediums, the Windbridge Research Center is an invaluable resource: Not only do they certify and study mediums, but they have published their findings in numerous studies. (Our guide to healers includes several who are certified research mediums through Windbridge.) As their Director of Research, Julie Beischel, Ph.D. (whose doctorate is in Pharmacology and Toxicology with a minor in Microbiology and Immunology) explains it, Windbridge's mission is "to ease suffering around dying, death, and what comes next by performing rigorous scientific research" and sharing what they learn widely. We interviewed Beishcel about how she tests Windbridge's Certified Research Mediums, what they do (and don't) know about what happens when mediums connect to the other side, and how this might change the way we think about the survival of consciousness beyond the body-and provide some comfort for our time here, too.

A Q&A with Julie Beischel, Ph.D.

Q

What tests did you structure to vet the mediums who are currently part of your research group?

A

The testing procedure we used to certify the mediums on our team involved eight peer-reviewed steps but the most important one, Step 5, tested if the mediums could report accurate information about specific deceased people under controlled conditions. That ridiculously complex multi-part test was designed with the same two principles we use for all of our research: optimize the research environment and maximize the experimental controls. My favorite analogy for this is: You can't put a seed on a table and then call it a fraud when it doesn't turn into a tree. You have to give the seed what it needs-water, sun, soil-if you want to study how it grows. Similarly, if you want to study how the seed grows naturally, you can't supplement the soil or use an UV lamp. The sports analogy that also works is: You can't study football on a baseball field using hockey equipment and the rules for soccer and then claim you've disproven the existence of football.

We test things in situations that are similar to how they exist in the real world: The mediums performed the test readings on the phone for regular people wanting to hear from their deceased loved ones. But then we also control for all the normal explanations for the source of a medium's information: An experimenter (me) serves as a proxy on the phone in place of the actual sitter who does not hear the reading as it takes place and who later scores a decoy transcript along with their own transcript without knowing which is which. We also ask the medium specific questions about the deceased person's personality, appearance, hobbies, and cause of death. Different experimenters perform different tasks during the different phases of the experiment.

"You can't study football on a baseball field using hockey equipment and the rules for soccer and then claim you've disproven the existence of football."

This scenario controls for cold reading, cueing, rater bias, and fraud. Cold reading is a method where fraudulent mediums use cues from the sitter to create what seems like an accurate reading. Cold reading can also include the reporting of information so general it could apply to almost anyone. Cold reading is eliminated as an explanation in our testing because the medium receives no information prior to the reading, no feedback during (or after) the reading, and is asked specific questions about the deceased. The testing also controls for cueing (intentional or not) by the person who is on the phone with the medium (me, the experimenter), because I don't know who the sitter or the deceased is or the answers to the questions. It also controls for rater bias because the raters receive more than one reading to score without knowing which is theirs. Fraud or any unintentional sensory leakage are also eliminated as plausible explanations because the five participants in the experiment/test (medium, sitter, and three experimenters) are all blinded to different pieces of information.

This is obviously a time and resource-intensive procedure. We were able to build our team of Windbridge Certified Research Mediums through support from a grant and at the end of that grant we stopped certifying any new mediums. However, we have started collecting data from mediums all over the US about their experiences, practices, and histories using online surveys.

Q

What exactly are you studying and/or looking for?

A

At the Windbridge Research Center, we are asking three questions about mediums: Can they do what they claim to be doing? If so, what is unique about the people who can do it? How can it help society? Our three mediumship research programs, named Information, Operation, and Application, respectively, investigate: the accuracy and specificity of the information mediums report under controlled laboratory conditions; the experiences, psychology, and physiology (body and brain) of mediums; and the use of mediumship readings as a treatment for grief.

Q

What have you observed in terms of where in the brain they receive and process psi information? Is there a difference between psychic and medium information?

A

The rule of thumb is that all mediums are psychic but not all psychics are mediums. While anyone can potentially have mediumistic or psychic experiences, mediums experience regular communication from the deceased and psychics regularly experience information about, or from, living people, distant locations or events, and/or times in the future or in the past (that they did not originally experience).

We did one EEG study and concluded that mediums' experiences of communication with the deceased is a mental state different than fabricating information or recalling facts previously obtained. However, because mediumship involves the mediums talking, which uses facial muscles, EEG, which is susceptible to muscle movement artifacts, is really not the best method for studying mediums' brain activity. We have designed a study using alternative brain imaging techniques to look at mediums' brain activity during communication with the deceased, as well as several other conditions, including obtaining psychic information about the living, for comparison. The use of imaging technologies is expensive so we will need to acquire funding in order to perform the study.

We are also studying the mediums' actual experiences during mediumistic and psychic tasks. As would be expected, the two types of psi experiences have similarities. For example, they both seem to involve multiple "senses" (seeing in the mind's eye, mentally hearing, feeling in the body). There are also differences: psychic readings for living clients don't seem to include taste as one of the senses experienced, whereas during mediumship readings, mediums may taste the deceased's favorite foods and share that information with the sitter to help identify the deceased. We just finished a study in which we analyzed descriptions of the two kinds of experiences from more than 120 self-identified mediums in the US. The results from that study will be available on our website once they are published.

Q

How involved is the frontal lobe?

A

That's a good question and no one knows the answer. Very little research of any kind has been done with modern-day mediums and even less has been done studying their brains.

Q

What are you ultimately trying to determine?

A

At the Windbridge Research Center we are ultimately interested in helping people alleviate suffering using research and education. Specifically, we hope to normalize phenomena like mediumship and spontaneous after-death communication experiences in regular people (for example, sensing the presence of the deceased, dreams about them, smells, or music) so people who have those experiences-which are very common-can stop feeling like they are crazy or delusional. The body of research on spontaneous experiences of a deceased loved one has found that they occur in roughly 30 percent of people at some point in their lives and that about 80 percent of people will have at least one experience in the first year following the death of someone close to them. Those are numbers people should have.

"No 'body' is getting out of here alive. But it's only the body-not the whole self-that will die. And really knowing that can make any life at least a little easier."

We are also very interested in treatments for grief. The healthcare community has very little to offer the grieving but experiences like mediumship readings in which the bereaved experience their continuing bonds with the deceased seem to have substantial positive effects. However, further research is needed before we can say for sure.

We are also interested in providing evidence-based materials demonstrating that consciousness survives after the physical death of the body as a way to alleviate the fear people experience contemplating their own deaths. This is relevant for people currently dying and their loved ones as well as for the rest of us. No "body" is getting out of here alive. But it's only the body-not the whole self-that will die. And really knowing that can make any life at least a little easier.

Q

Based on your research, do you have any theories about the relationship between consciousness and the brain? Can you imagine how science might eventually be able to determine what's going on there?

A

The theory that the brain creates consciousness is called "materialism" and it's just a theory that somehow got stuck in textbooks, classrooms, and movies. Materialism is equivalent to thinking that a radio creates the sounds that come out of it.

The alternative theory views consciousness as "non-local," a term coined by physician Larry Dossey. In the non-locality explanation, consciousness is not localized to the brain, not bound by space or time, it is infinite, and it is merely funneled or translated by the brain. This theory accounts for phenomena like mediums communicating with people after their deaths, children who remember past lives, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, the Army's Stargate remote viewing program, knowing who's on the phone before it rings, dreaming about tomorrow's events, and on and on.

"Consciousness-the signal-exists separate from the brain which is just the antenna."

An example people may be familiar with is a mother who knows her child just got in a car accident all the way across the country. How could her brain know that if it is here and her child is there? With non-locality there is no here or there, no now or then; consciousness can be any place and any time. We don't experience it like that day-to-day because our brain is busy remembering to eat and breathe and not step out in front of that bus.

Consciousness-the signal-exists separate from the brain, which is just the antenna. Yes, if the antenna is damaged, the signal comes out wonky or if it breaks entirely, the signal doesn't come through at all, but the signal still exists. Science has already been gathering laboratory evidence for non-locality for decades but people fear change and shaking up the status quo is difficult. Ideas that are different-even evidence-based, empirically-tested, peer-reviewed ones-often struggle for attention, acceptance, and funding, but that's where we are right now.

Q

What are your theories about what happens to the soul after death?

A

Soul isn't a word most scientists are comfortable with but it's a concept similar to the self, the mind, or consciousness. The different areas of research that support the idea that consciousness survives after the physical death of the body-the big three are mediumship, near-death experiences, and children who remember past lives-demonstrate that consciousness is non-local and will continue to exist after the body dies. It also seems that in this disembodied state, the consciousness continues to learn, and heal, and grow.

MORE ON CONSCIOUSNESS >>

Julie Beischel, Ph.D., is co-founder and Director of Research at the Windbridge Research Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to performing rigorous scientific research and creating educational materials focused on dying, death, and what comes next. (See their Facebook page here.) Beischel received her doctorate in Pharmacology and Toxicology with a minor in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Arizona in 2003. Her current research interests include examinations of the accuracy and specificity of the information mediums report as well as their experiences, psychology, and physiology; and the potential social applications of mediumship readings. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed research articles, as well as the books Among Mediums: A Scientist's Quest for Answers; Meaningful Messages: Making the Most of Your Mediumship Reading; From the Mouths of Mediums; and Investigating Mediums.

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Are Mediums Real? How Do Mediums Work? | Goop

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Hypothesis and Emerging Research Some early observations support this concept (or parts of the theory), and there is scientific interest in elucidating exactly what's at work. For those who are deeply curious about the work of mediums, the Windbridge Research Center is an invaluable resource: Not only do they certify and study mediums, but they have published their findings in numerous studies.

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This video is by a Youtuber that famously debunks medium and psychic abilities. In this video, he explains how mediums use various cold reading techniques to convince the audience that they know things that they actually do not. In this video, he explores high probability guesses, generalized statements, and linguistic techniques, and the importance of "hits" with psychics and mediums. This video also provides a few video examples from famous mediums like Theresa Caputo and breaks down the process of how they use these cold reading techniques by giving examples.

Connection:
The red flag connection in this video is Confirmation Bias and Proof by Verbosity. In this video, we see the Youtuber break down the process of how mediums such as Theresa Caputo use cold reading techniques to make those "hits" stick more than the "misses". As individuals, we are far more likely to believe and remember events that coincide with our beliefs than the ones that do not. Therefore, as explained in this video, mediums are hoping to make one or two "hits" to make a person more likely to believe the things they are saying. The red flag, proof by verbosity also connects to this video as we see the mediums providing large amounts of information to individuals that appear unsure. This confusion is a cue to mediums that their guess wasn't correct, therefore they fire off more statements to overwhelm an individual in the hopes that one might stick. In turn, this will make that individual more likely to believe that with all that information their claims must be true. The reason for belief of emotional connection also connects to this video as mediums are hoping to mention something small that might connect with someone's heart strings. This will allow them to run with that and provide more "guesses". As we know when we apply skepticism, emotions can blur our rational thoughts and that is very important for individuals to remember in these scenarios.

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Psychic Methods Exposed - Cold Reading Tricks (Part 1)

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The photo below is of Eva Carriere, who was a materialization medium in the early 20th century. Eva was born in France in 1886, and was well known for holding seances where she would conduct ectoplasm. This is where spiritual energy is exteriorized by mediums. This could mean that faces appear on cloth material, or figures in the distance. Years down the road, Houdini and various other witnesses proved that Eva's claims were false and that she simply was using magic tricks.

Connection:
This image connects to the red flag of Mystical Energy. The reason for this connection is that in the photo Eva Carriere is claiming that she is able to channel this "spiritual energy" to exteriorize spirits. As we know when we apply skepticism, the scientific word “energy” is a measurement of something’s ability to perform work. In this case, Eva, a spiritualist used the word differently in a way that does not make sense. She is using the word energy to make it sound to her clients like she knows what she is talking about. Applying the critical thinking process, it is essential to gather as much information and facts to evaluate before believing a claim like Eva's. This was the process that Houdini followed by sitting in on one of her seances, and was able to prove that her claims were false, by applying critical thinking. A reason for belief that would connect to this image is emotional connection. During Eva's seances, she claimed that she could connect you to a deceased family member or friend. This statement would pull on the heart strings of an individual making them more inclined to give her their money and pay for her services. As we know, this is a pseudoscience watch list item.

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The photo below is of Colin Evans, a 20th century welsh spiritualist medium who claimed to be able to levitate. The two images below showcase his levitating abilities - he claimed that spirit energy had lifted him. Evans was later discovered to be a fraud, as a cord leading from a device in his hand has indicated that it was himself who triggered the flash and that all he had done was jump from his chair into the air. This made him "appear" to levitate. Additionally, Evans conducted all of his seances in the complete dark, so that his audience members could not see what he was doing.

Connection:
The red flag that connects to this photo is Mystical Energy. The reason for this connection is due to the fact that Colin Evan's claimed that the spirits "energy" had lifted him up in to the air in to levitation. Applying the critical thinking process, we know that spiritualist's often misuse the term energy in a way that does not make sense. They often times add the term to make it sound as though their services or work are more legitimate then they actually are. The reason for belief of perception and observation connects to this photo as our experience and observation abilities can sometimes be faulty. In this case, with the lights off, it would appear that Evan was in fact actually levitating. However, a flaw within this image is that no one was evaluating his abilities with the lights on.

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This is an article in Orpah's website, written by Kimberly Zapata, that explores what a psychic medium is. This article explains what mediums do, how they interact with otherworldly spirits, the differences when compared to a psychic or clairvoyant, and what to expect when talking to one. The bottom of this article also provides a link that advertises various mediums, as well as a video that showcases the impact a medium had on a families life.

Connection:
The red flag that connects to this article is Appeal to Authority. The reason for this connection is because Oprah is such an authoritative and influential figure that it directly impacts her fans beliefs. In this article, Oprah is endorsing the services of mediums and even showcases an emotional video of a medium reading that she hosted for her show. This connects to the reason for belief of emotional connection, as viewers watching want to believe that they too, can talk and connect to their deceased loved one. A flaw within this website is that it is very biased making it less credible. A limitation within the website is that anyone can google facts about mediums and make a post about it.

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This video is a snip it from TLC's show "Mama Medium" . In this video, Jennie performs a small reading for a family whose mother has a medical condition that left her in a semi-vegetative state. Jennie, the Mama Medium, is able to draw a few "hits" that resonate with the family and that leave the audience quite emotional.

Connection:
The reason for belief that connects to this video is emotional connection. As an audience member watching the show, it pulls on your heart strings and really allows you to empathize with the family members. Parts of this video are quite emotional. Applying critical thinking is important, as we know that emotions can blur our rational thought. Therefore, even though we want to believe that we can go to a medium to contact our lost loved one, it is important to still apply that skepticism piece. As we saw in the video, the red flag of confirmation bias also connects to the things that the family members connected with from Jennie's reading. As we can see, the family members really grasped on to the few "hits" she had. Often times, they elaborated quickly on them which gave Jennie more information to go with in her reading moving forward. This showcased that confirmation bias piece where the family remembered those hits and events that coincided with their own beliefs.

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A Reading With a Woman in a Semi-Vegetative State | Mama Medium

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1) The one thing that I learned about the topic that most surprised me, was how often mediums use cold reading techniques to focus in on those statements and guesses that will lead them to "hits". I found it really interesting to watch the YouTube video where Theresa Caputos readings were broken down, and it actually showed how she used skills to make those vague statements and run with them. Before this assignment, I personally believed that she was quite legitimate, but when I applied the critical thinking process it left me with a lot more questions.
2) The topic of mediums has always been something that really interested me. I lost my mom to cancer when I was only 5 years old, and I have really debated about going for a reading. I am fully aware of the fact that is where the emotional connection piece comes in. However, I have always found it interesting to maybe go with an open mind and see if anything comes up.
3) I found the research in the Goop article quite interesting. I thought it was really great how research scientists were applying scientific studies and the critical thinking process to this topic. It was really interesting to see the scans and which parts of the brain are more active than others for mediums. I think it is great that they are starting to conduct more research on this topic.
4) I am most likely to remember the video on the cold reading techniques that mediums implement. As I mentioned above, I had no idea that mediums so often implement these techniques to develop their guesses and statements until I saw the examples in the videos.
5) Having completed all the course content, I think that the one pseudoscience belief that is the most harmful would be patternicity. I think it is incredibly easy for people to see something in photos, or even in person in the outdoors, that actually is not there. This can even be applied to large foot prints that have been found. I think that this reason for belief allows peoples imagination to go wild and further affirms in their mind their ideological support or emotional connection. The one pseudoscience belief that I think is the least harmful is either ancient wisdom or agenticity. It is easy to prove that we have more knowledge than the individuals who started these tales once had. We now know that ancient civilizations created tales and folklores to explain the unexplained. I think that this allows us to sift through the myths and truths of this topic easier.
6) If I could pass on any information or knowledge to a family or friend, it would be to always use your critical thinking skills before jumping to conclusions. Even in the media today, false information can be presented as the truth and spread like wildfire. I think that it is super important to think critically and evaluate every source based off of key markers before believing it.