Authority Bias: Why We Trust Famous People

A Little Intro

Welcome to the 2nd edition of the MindfulThinks Newsletter! If you’re new here, this is where I go in-depth on the topics covered by my latest videos that you can find on YouTube and Instagram.

It’s funny, normally when I make these videos I have a lot of thoughts and a LOT more to ramble on about regarding the topic. However, I have never had a platform to do just that.

So dear reader… I ask for some patience as I figure out this newsletter format and organize my thoughts for your curious mind.

Authority Bias is Important Today

In my latest video, we discuss authority bias. This is essentially when people listen to or obey individuals in a position of authority. So think like politicians, celebrities, CEOs, podcasters, etc. We just listen to them because they are well known, powerful, or have a fancy title.

You might have already guessed it, but this can be quite a dangerous rabbit hole when people nowadays have access to MANY authorities in their lives given the global nature of information and media. What if we just trusted anybody who had a lot of followers? Or has a “journalist” title from a “seemingly reputable” publication you’ve never heard of?

Authorities in the Influencer Age

I thought about this quite a lot when diving into this topic and it seems that the social structures around us have changed in a way that this bias might be more present in our lives than in previous times.

Before social media, celebrity culture and media were mostly coming from a few different places. People more or less had access to the same types of news channels. They saw the same types of figures in their TV shows and newspapers. So there weren’t that many authorities in their lives.

Maybe in their personal lives they had their boss or a neighborhood community leader who they trusted because they were in a position of power. Occasionally they would have to listen to police, firefighters, or event organizers when they were out in public.

But then people started following other people on the internet.

Sometimes when I think about human behavior on a large scale, I try to think like an alien coming to Earth. Just observing and watching, taking notes.

So one has to think… what happens when you give a species that has a bias towards blindly listening to famous and powerful people easy access to an unlimited number of famous and powerful people? Well, a very confused species.

I don’t even want to mention the obvious examples of this, like when a very famous world leader suggested to the people of his country to inject a cleaning liquid to treat Covid. Or when companies use celebrities in their commercials to influence you to buy their product.

We need to think about our new day-to-day authorities. The podcasters, the YouTubers (hello), the Instagram models, and the Medium writers who have us constantly debating each other because we listen to their differing opinions on very important topics.

We no longer live in a world where we can “get by” on listening to people in places of authority. We need to be a little bit smarter than that.

Being Mindful of Our Information

There are so many biases that impact the way we receive information (social proof, confirmation bias, etc) and I won’t pretend that it’s easy to be some sort of “bias warrior” where we defend ourselves from every single human bias there is. We are human, therefore we are biased. However, we can be mindful and curious about the things we listen to.

It is so easy to just believe what we are told. And let’s be honest, sometimes we just want to believe what we are told. It’s been a long day at work, I’m tired, I just went to the gym… I don’t want to do the mental gymnastics to “do my research” on something that my daily podcast show host just told me. Certainly they must know what they are talking about because they have a famous show and I listen to them every single day.

So what can we do to make things easier for ourselves? Let’s start with reframing our mindset.

When listening to someone, try to paint a picture of their background. How did this person become successful? Who were they before they were a podcaster? What are their intentions by saying this?

Just doing this simple step invites curiosity in the media we consume. We aren’t being critical, we are just open to the possibility that the information could be inaccurate. Then for important pieces of information, we do a little more research.

Blue Checkmarks and AI Videos

Some social media platforms now allow you to buy blue checkmarks. These checkmarks serve as digital yellow vests, serving as uniforms of authority on the internet. But if you can buy them, are they really a valuable tool for reliable perspectives?

AI video and images are becoming more and more common on the internet too. It is actually scary when I see 400,000 people liking something that is clearly created through AI.

It is only a matter of time before someone with a blue checkmark reposts something they earnestly think is real. We need to be more thoughtful about this very human possibility.

Final Thoughts

Our brains try to make things simple for us. And to make things simple, you need to have a default way to process things. That’s why we have biases, including authority bias.

Part of behavioral science is learning what biases we have and how our brains process information. This can be used for good and not so good.

But by educating ourselves about our own behavior and thinking about how we act as humans, we can go through this world with a toolbox of knowledge that can help us. It’s like learning how to eat a healthy diet to keep you physically healthy. Why don’t we learn about how to mentally engage with the world in a healthy way?

Just some food for thought.

-Carlos

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