On August 16, 1977 the entire world was shocked with grief and shock when  News stations reported, "The King of Rock and Roll is dead."  They were referring to the death of music icon Elvis Presley who died of a heart attack.  Elvis Presley was so popular world wide that many fans would not accept or acknowledge his death.  These same people were so certain that Elvis was still alive that they swore they saw him walking about over the years. The Elvis Sighting Society was even created for people to tell their "Elvis is alive" theories and condemn the autopsy and police investigation into his death.  

Reason for Belief: Confirmation Bias - occurs when a person or persons only search for data and information that support their beliefs or opinions.  There is no objectivity and evidence to the contrary is quickly discarded.  
The most popular theory was that Elvis faked his own death and changed his identity to attempt to become a "normal" citizen rather than a celebrity that could never have privacy.  People often flock to Graceland annually hoping to perhaps catch a glimpse of him hiding there on his birthday.  

What did you learn about the topic that most surprised you?

    The thing about this topic that surprised me the most was that “Pop Culture” is something that everyone is subjected to no matter who they are, how old they are or where they live.  Also the pop culture machine is constantly running and will never stop.  There will always be new rumors, inventions, trends etc that the world will be exposed to.  Humans are creatures that are constantly hungry for information, especially bad news.  And as we all know bad news happens every day and everywhere.  People always like to create their own spin on events.

Provide a real life example of how this topic is relevant or interesting to you.

This topic interests me because I enjoy researching past world events, news or inventions and how they affected the generation of people that were around at the time as well as future generations.  It is interesting to see how many different theories can emerge from the same story depending on a person’s belief system and his or her surroundings.  There is a fine line between fact and fiction at times and each individual’s perspective is involved.  

Which research did you find more interesting? Why?

I enjoyed the article on the Titanic because it showed that even after 86 years after the sinking, people were suddenly questioning the authenticity of the story because an author wrote a book that showed some credible evidence that it may have never happened as initially told.  In today’s time stories can explode and spread around the world so quickly because of the internet.  

What are you most likely to remember from this research?

I am likely to remember that pop culture is here to stay.  No matter what people think of it or whether they want to get involved or not, it will find you and possibly peak your interest at some point in your life.  No one is immune to every world event or current trend.

Having completed all of the course content, which pseudoscience belief do you think is most harmful? Which is least harmful?

I believe the Confirmation of Bias pseudoscience is the most harmful because it causes people to see things only the way they want to.  They tend to disregard important information and/or data just because it doesn’t fit their belief system or conclusion.  Spreading this type of a thought process causes incorrect biases to flourish especially if the population is easily influenced.

I believe the least harmful pseudoscience is the Red Herring because its sole purpose is to distract people with information that is irrelevant.  I don’t see it as overly harmful because it is more of an effort to slightly sway people from their own beliefs.

If you could pass on this knowledge to a family member or a friend, what do you think the most important thing is to pass on?

If I could pass on this knowledge to anyone, I would tell them to be careful and aware of things they see or hear in the media or from peers because they could be misinformed.  It is important for people to gather facts and data to come up with their own conclusions.  Simply listening to or following someone just because they profess they are right about something could be harmful and/or disappointing.  Knowledge is power.