📘 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.

Discussion

Maria: So, dear listener, advertisements, adverts, or ads could influence our decisions. Influence - have an effect on. Whose decisions? Consumers’ decisions. So people who buy stuff are called consumers. Well, customers or consumers. And we can say that advertisements raise awareness of a product.

Rory: At the bare minimum. The basic level.

Maria: Ads are annoying, but still they give us some information about a product. And they can employ different tactics. And Rory used a very nice adjective here. Rory said “insidious” tactics.

Rory: Oh, I love that word!

Maria: Unpleasant or dangerous.

Rory: If something is insidious, like Maria said, it's not very nice. It's definitely a negative adjective to describe something. But this is what advertising companies and advertising in general do. It makes people feel like they need something that they may not necessarily need.

Yeah, so you can say advertisements employ insidious tactics. They encourage fear of missing out. So they tell us to buy things, and if we don't, we're afraid that we'll miss out on something.

Rory: FOMO - fear of missing out.

Maria: If you miss out on something, you fail to include something in your life. Like you fail to use this opportunity to enjoy this, I don't know, TV. Or you don't buy this kettle or a new TV, and you don't enjoy the advantage of this product. This is a fear of missing out. So it's manipulative.

Rory: But that just means, well, very loosely controlling people's behaviour. Or exerting influence over people's behaviour to get them to do what you want.

Maria: Yeah, manipulative is a negative word, disapproving. When someone tries to control other people to their advantage. So like children could sometimes be manipulative. They start crying, and they manipulate their parents with their crying. Usually, young people ask their parents for advice. So ask somebody for advice. But we don't forget the influence of their peers. Peers are pretty much children's friends of the same age. A person who is the same age or the same social position as you. And this is a C1 word.

Rory: Is it? Oh my God, it's so short.

Maria: Yeah, your peers. And then you can make an example. For example, they ask their peers about what to wear. And here, Rory used the verb recommend. And Rory, what structures do we have with the verb recommend? Very often, our learners make mistakes. Because they say, I recommend you to do something. But this is wrong.

Rory: Well, it's so interesting you should say that. Because I discovered recently in a conversation with some colleagues that actually recommend to does happen, and is a thing. So we need to be very careful of this. Which is why I dodged it altogether, because I said recommending you wear something. I had my ING. I think this is one of the ones that can be classed as a native level mistake. So this won't influence your Band 9 score at all. It's like saying less instead of fewer.

Maria: Yeah, like our friends recommend that we should wear something. Or my friends recommend that I get more exercise. Or that I should get more exercise. So children's peers can have a huge influence on them. On their decisions. Rory, you've used an interesting adverb. Here you said something ostensibly. Ostensibly.

Rory: Oh, ostensibly. I love that word. It's one of my favourite words. Ostensibly is just a way of saying what seems to be true. But it's not necessarily true. So it's another way of saying apparently.

Maria: Ostensibly, apparently. In a way that appears or claims to be one thing, when it is really something else. Could you give us another example with ostensibly?

Rory: Ah, yes. A country might go to war ostensibly to defend itself. However, some countries go to war to secure the resources of other countries.

Maria: And Rory gives us this sentence, like After all, one day children will be independent adults who will ostensibly make their own choices. So it's kind of like: probably this appears that they will make their own choices. When we make decisions, we have to compromise.

Rory: Well, we might. Some people are not very good at compromising.

Maria: Nooo… And negotiate with others. So we negotiate, we agree and disagree and reach some kind of agreement with other people. It's good for children to learn to exercise some judgment. So when you exercise some judgment...

Rory: Well, you use your reasoning abilities to make a decision.

Maria: Yeah, judgment means the ability to form valuable opinions and make good decisions. Actually, judgment is C2 level. Oh my gosh, again. Yeah, in this meaning, like the ability to form valuable opinions. So for example, people show good judgment. People show sound judgment. So, pretty much like good abilities to form valuable opinions. And when you say that children should learn to exercise some judgment. So they should be able to have this ability, to have this judgment. Nice. And young people make decisions about who to make friends with. So they decide who they want to be friends with. They differentiate good from bad decisions. So if you differentiate, you tell the difference between. Differentiate. Show or find the difference between things. And it's C1 level.

Rory: Yes, I was going to ask. What level is that?

Maria: Depending on the meaning, it could be either C1 or C2. For example, differentiate to show or find the difference between things. It's C1. But if you use it in the meaning of to make someone or something different from. It's C2.

Rory: Oh, I meant it in the C1 version here. But I should have used it that way too.

Maria: We can differentiate this house from the other houses. So that's C2. Differentiate between fact and opinion. So to tell the difference. What is a fact and what is an opinion.

Rory: I'll need to use that more often then…. Differentiate. I'll make a note.

Maria: Anyway, if you want to add more ideas. You can say not only that. And then add an idea. Some people have to take life and death decisions. So these are serious decisions. About the well-being of family members. Like well-being about their family members' health. So, unfortunately, some young people have to make life and death decisions. And about asking people for advice. You can say that. Some people can make decisions without asking other people for advice. But if people make life and death decisions. Usually, they seek advice. They ask for some advice. Advice is advice. Not an advice. No advices. Advice. Just ask for advice. Seek out some advice - is another synonym.

Rory: It's a phrasal verb!

Maria: So pretty much like ask for some advice. Ask for some tips, or seek out some advice. If people don't ask for advice. They are more capable of being independent. So they are able. They can be more independent. So they can operate independently, meaning they can live independently, and do stuff without other people's help. Other people might be easily influenced by others. The passive voice. So you can say like, a child may be easily influenced by their peers. Or by their parents. Or by their teachers. Or celebrities. And then Rory you say just - as a blanket statement. Something super sophisticated. From Band 9 list of ideas. A blanket statement.

Rory: A blanket statement is just a broad generalisation. So it was an alternative to saying generally speaking. Which I've noticed I say quite a lot. So I'm trying to find alternatives.

Maria: Young and naive people are usually easily influenced by other people. So like, naive children. Naive, dear listeners, C1. So a naive person believes everybody. A naive child believes everything other people tell them. A naive child believes everything other people tell them. Don't be so naive. And children may rely more on their parents. On their peers. On other people. They depend on other people, so they rely more on others to make informed decisions. So if we make informed decisions, well they are good decisions. Not like spontaneous decisions. And some children can make informed decisions. On their own. So without other people.

Rory: What do people make informed decisions about? Hopefully everything.

Maria: About their career. About their accommodation. About their partners. And you can call it. A decision-making process. So the process of making decisions. And to make decisions. We need decision-making capabilities. The ability to make informed decisions.

Rory: Or we need the capacity to make decisions.

Maria: Capacity in this case would be…

Rory: The same thing as a capability.

Maria: And you should pronounce it capability. Not capacity. But capability. The ability to do something.

Rory: Capability is the maximum amount. Capacity is just the ability. But we can use them interchangeably here.

Maria: So, to have the capability to make decisions. To make informed decisions. We thank you so much for listening. We love you. And we hug you. Rory, could you please send band 9 to our listener?

Rory: Sending positive band 9 vibes. All the way. Bye.

Maria: Bye

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