Even if you haven’t heard the name Melanie Trecek-King, odds are you encounter her area of expertise daily.
Ms Tracek-King, an associate professor of biology and education director for the Mental Immunity Project, hosted a presentation, ‘Thinking is power’, at Benalla Library in December.
She is also the brains behind www.thinkingispower.com/
In what has become known as the information age, we all have to navigate an array of misinformation and disinformation, which is sprinkled liberally among facts.
Ms Tracek-King’s talk covered not only that issue but also our prejudices and preconceived ideas, which affect which ‘facts’ we find credible.
“My website is where I try and teach critical thinking information literacy and science literacy skills,” she said.
Ms Tracek-King said one element of discourse in 2023 was that facts did not necessarily change opinions.
“This presentation is about the underlying motivations for why we choose those facts,” she said.
“So, on the surface, it could look like two people are having a conversation about facts because I could give you my facts, and then you would give me yours.
“But actually, there’s something underlying the motivations for why we cherry-pick the facts that we do and why we think some are more important than others.
“Why we downplay some more than others.”
Ms Tracek-King said she was reading a book on inoculation theory, which she linked to models of how to open your mind to ‘facts’ that a person might be uncomfortable with.
“Inoculation theory shows that if we expose our body to a bit of a vaccine (which carries some of a virus), we build immunity.
“The body recognises the germs and builds an immunity defence.
“You can do something similar with the mind. You can expose it to a bit of misinformation, with techniques to resist the persuasion.”
Ms Tracek-King’s expertise is far too complex to explain in one article.
To find out more, visit www.thinkingispower.com/