📘 Part 3: Making decisions

This episode's vocabulary

Raise awareness (verb phrase) – to make people more conscious or informed about something. → Advertisements raise awareness of new products.

Influence (noun/verb) – the power to affect how someone thinks or acts. → Ads can influence people’s decisions without them realizing it.

Insidious (adjective) – harmful in a subtle or gradual way. → The ad used insidious tactics like fear of missing out.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) (noun phrase) – the anxiety that others are having experiences you are not. → Marketers use FOMO to make products feel urgent or necessary.

Manipulative (adjective) – controlling or influencing someone in a clever and dishonest way. → The commercial was so manipulative, it made people feel guilty for not buying.

Peers (noun, plural) – people of the same age or social group. → Teenagers often follow the advice of their peers.

Influence (noun/verb) – repeated here for clarity, since it appears in different contexts. → Friends can have a strong influence on fashion choices.

Independent (adjective) – able to make decisions or do things without help. → It's important for children to grow into independent adults.

In a vacuum (phrase) – without considering other people or influences. → No decision is made in a vacuum; we always consider others.

Compromise (verb/noun) – to settle a disagreement by each side giving something up. → Decision-making often requires compromise between people.

Devolve (verb) – to pass responsibility or control to someone else. → People often devolve decision-making to politicians by voting.

Exercise judgment (verb phrase) – to make sensible or informed decisions. → Children should learn to exercise judgment from an early age.

Differentiate (verb) – to distinguish between things. → It’s important to learn to differentiate good decisions from bad ones.

Young carers (noun phrase) – children or teenagers who take care of family members. → Some young carers must make very serious decisions daily.

Life-and-death decisions (noun phrase) – extremely important choices that could affect someone’s survival. → Emergency responders often make life-and-death decisions.

Seek advice (verb phrase) – to look for guidance or suggestions. → Not everyone needs to seek advice before making a choice.

Dependency (noun) – the state of relying on someone or something. → Different people have different levels of dependency on others.

Blanket statement (noun phrase) – a broad or general comment that doesn’t consider differences. → Saying all young people are easily influenced is a blanket statement.

Naive (adjective) – lacking experience or wisdom. → It’s naive to assume that age always determines good judgment.

Self-reliance (noun) – the ability to depend on yourself. → Teaching children self-reliance is a valuable life skill.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Do advertisements influence consumers' decisions?

Rory: Probably more than we care to admit, really. At a very basic level, they raise awareness of a product, which is influence in and of itself. But they can also employ rather insidious tactics, like encouraging fear of missing out, which makes people panic and think they need to have this particular item or they're not going to be able to do something. That's rather manipulative when you think about it.

Maria: Who do young people like to ask for advice when making decisions?

Rory: The most obvious answer seems like their parents. However, we probably shouldn't forget the influence that peers can have in decision-making. For example, if everyone you know is recommending you wear something in particular to feel like part of a group, that can have a huge influence on what people decide to do.

Maria: Is it necessary for kids to make as many decisions by themselves as they can?

Rory: I can appreciate the logic in that. After all, one day there will be independent adults who will ostensibly make their own choices. The problem with that line of thought is that, when you think about it, even fully-grown adults don't make decisions in a vacuum and have to compromise and negotiate with others or even devolve their decision-making to someone else entirely, like when they do when they vote for a political party. Still, it's probably good for them to learn to exercise some judgment, since we all have at least a little control over certain aspects of our lives.

Maria: What kinds of decisions do young people have to make?

Rory: I'm not sure there's a limit on that. At a very basic level, there are things about who to make friends with and differentiating good from bad decisions. Not only that, but some young people are actually young carers and they have to take life-and-death decisions about the well-being of family members on a regular basis.

Maria: Do you think some people can make decisions without asking for advice from others?

Rory: Well, when you think about it, everyone probably does it at least at some point during their days. I mean, we were probably both able to dress ourselves without seeking out some style advice. And there will definitely be people who are more capable of operating independently than others, just because we have different levels of dependency on others. But that's a question of scale, not presence.

Maria: Are young people easily influenced by others when they make decisions?

Rory: It's tempting to just say yes as a sort of blanket statement, because they seem so young and naive. But it's probably not that easy or simple. Certainly, there will be some children who rely more on people than others in this area. But there are also examples of children who can make informed decisions on their own, like when we talked about young carers. By contrast, there will be some adults who are almost completely hopeless or helpless because they haven't developed the capacity of self-reliance. So, ultimately, it's probably more about individual decision-making capability or capacity rather than age.