It's pretty clear that there are both positive and negative effects of media
on society. We'll dig into what some of those are today and I'll give you a very
compelling example of how it works. You might notice that I've got a logo on my
shirt right here. It says Nova Principles. This is a program that I co-founded with
my partner, Charlie Wakamatsu. Who's retired police officer. We developed a
curriculum to teach kids in the school. We trained the police officers who go
into the school to teach the kids about alcohol and other drugs, about safety,
about media awareness. And it's a phenomenal program that helps to teach
kids principles that allow them to be successful. Our motto is "Illuminating the
path to excellence." One of the principles that we teach is an old computer term.
It's called "Gi-Go." Gi-Go. You've heard it? Maybe? Garbage in, garbage out.
G-I-G-O. Gi-Go. Garbage in, garbage out means that it matters. What kind of stuff
we put into our head? I have to tell you about an experience that I've had many
times with groups of people. Picture a group of people that's gathered together.
Maybe we've got a hundred people in a room. And I have an exercise that I take
them through and then I show them this stimulus. Now, this is simply 3
letters with a blank in between the first 2. R, blank, P-E. And I ask them a
simple question. What letter is missing from this word? You've already come up
with a letter haven't you? The letter that you come up with is determined by
what's all ready in your mind? When I do this
experiment with a whole roomful of people, I have roughly a third of the
audience that says that letter is very obviously and I. The other two-thirds of
the room is looking at them like, "You're crazy. It's not an "I". Another third of
the room says, "No, no, no, no." It's an "O" that's missing. And that surprises the
other two-thirds of the room. But they are sure that it's an O. And the final
group, it's an "A". Unfortunately Dr. Paul, it's an "A." Well those three letters form
very different words with this particular stimulus, don't they? Why does
one of the groups say so convincingly that it's an I? Here's how I set them
up for it. I have everyone in the group close their
eyes. Everyone in their own close your eyes. Now, a third of the group and I've
already determined which thirds where we're dividing. Third of the group open
your eyes. And I show them these words. You'll see that this stimulus says
yellow, banana, red, apple. They get those words in their mind I tell them, "Look,
just focus on think about picture and envision these words. I want you to
memorize them. I want you to give them down, you got them? Awesome.
Now, close your eyes." They close their eyes I put those words away now the
second group, open your eyes. And I show them the next set of words it looks like
this. Now, you see on this stimulus card, I have climbing, tug-O-War, pull and braided.
"Notice what images that brings to your mind.
Think about it, visualize it. See it clearly, you got it?
Memorize the words, you're there? Awesome." Now close your eyes. Second group closes
their eyes. And I put those words away. And now, it's time for the third group to
open their eyes. They open their eyes and they get to see these words. Sex, violence,
abuse and crime. Yeah, how did they get lucky enough to be in this group, right?
"Think about the words. Get them in your head, okay?
Memorize those words, you got it? Awesome. Now, close your eyes." Now, everyone in the
room, open your eyes and tell me what letter is missing. Can you see from this
example why that first third of the group was so convinced that that missing
letter is I? Because obviously we're talking about fruit and ripe fruit,
yellow banana, red apple. Yeah, it's an I. It's an I. That's why they're so sure.
Well, the other 2 groups are puzzled that they would think it's an I.
Because the second group is equally sure that it's an O. We're talking about ropes,
tug-of-war, pull, braided, climbing. It's an O. Got it. And the third group is every
bit as convinced that it's an A. You're not wrong for whatever letter you
thought it was when I first showed you the stimulus. In fact, without the
preparatory experience of seeing the other word sets, whatever comes up for
you is going to be what you've been exposed to the most recently
that helps you to make sense out of that stimulus that I showed you. R, blank, P,E.
You might notice also that if you came up with an A it doesn't mean that you're
a bad person who's inclined to go out there and commit a crime. No, it probably
means you've been tracking the media. It probably means you've watched the news
or you've tuned into the media that's having an effect on your brain. And it's
not right or wrong. Notice that it's happening. Is it the effect that you
wanted to have? There are positive effects of media, there are negative
effects of media. And I'm not here to tell you which is which? I want you to
notice that it's happening. And that it's impacting your brain. What goes in
matters. And it affects what comes out. We've been able to show it with simple
experiments like the one I just shared with you. We've learned it through sad
experience. As we provided incarceration for people who have acted out on the
negative media influences that they allowed to come into their mind.
It matters. Garbage in, garbage out. What can we do about all this? I'm making a
determined effort personally to provide lots of positive media through this
channel. There are so many other people who are providing inspiring and
uplifting and healthy content for us to enjoy and to consume what goes in
matters because that affects what comes out. What if all of us got a little more
on purpose about sharing positive media. Not only sharing it, but creating it. And
then acting in ways that continue to perpetuate positive and inspiring
interactions between our fellow human beings. We've
had enough with the hate and the negativity and the crime. It's our turn
to step up with the positive input that will absolutely transform our world. This
episode was sponsored by Nova Principles. Check it out at novarinciples.com.
I'm a founder of this program where we teach children the kinds of principles
that I shared here in this video today. We would love to have your support.