Global Action Plan International

The relation between information, knowledge and action is not simple. We constantly screen out information offered to us by media, other people, and even our own experience. If it doesn’t ”fit”, we reject it.

Why be surprised when some new scandal breaks showing that scientists have manipulated the ”facts” to suit what they wanted to find? You and I do it all the time. Admittedly a scientific education is supposed to teach how not to do that, but it generally misses out one very important factor: not only our minds but also our beliefs and feelings are involved in the conversion of facts to knowledge.

What I know is great, and what I don’t know is no problem because I can find out. The problems come with what I believe, or think I know.

Most information campaigns are designed along the ”scientific” (i e mind-focused) model:

(illus Info –> Knowledge –> Attitude/Values –> Action)

It all seems very logical. But we also know very well that it’s a poor model of reality. We inform and inform, for example about the risks of smoking. If the scientific model were an accurate picture of reality, there would hardly be a smoker left in the world today.

In practice almost the opposite seems to be true. Each of us is bombarded with gigantic amounts of information every day, maybe hundreds of thousands as much as we can actually absorb. Somehow, each of us decides what to hear and what to activate.