A Field Guide to Lies

The Need to Think Critically

As information becomes more widely available, discerning what is true becomes more difficult. You are responsible for evaluating the information you encounter and decide to absorb. You must be able to evaluate words and numbers, and to cull misinformation.

Numbers

When you encounter numbers, remember that people decided what to count, how to count, how to record what they counted and how to generate statistics from their tally. No matter how authoritative statistics seem, they aren’t facts. They are human interpretations of reality. When people offer numerical claims, check their data for plausibility. Some numerical claims involve percentages, with people claiming, for instance, that a price dropped 120%. If a product’s price dropped more than 100%, the store would be paying you to take it. If interest rates go from 3% to 4%, that’s a 33% increase. If they fall from 4% to 3%, that’s a 25% decrease.

Averages persuasively communicate both information and misinformation. Look for three different kinds of averages. The “mode” is the most common number in a group. The “mean” comes from adding all the items in a group and dividing...