Who Do You Trust?

When journalist Eric Weiner traveled the world to discover what made some countries happier places than others, he found one primary common denominator among the happiest. The essential ingredient was trust. The happiest countries are those in which people feel they can trust their government, trust social institutions, and trust their neighbors (see The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner).

Trust should be easy. We do it every day. We trust the other drivers on the road to stop when their light turns red. We trust that the author, reporter, expert and correspondent whose work we read is giving us truth about the world as it is, and how it's likely to be. We relax in that trust and feel informed...that is, until a fact checker comes along who challenges some part of the official version. Politicians not completely trustworthy? We've learned to live with that. So we've come to rely on the insights and forecasts of experts...until a master researcher like Phillip Tetlock demonstrates that the predictions of "experts" are about as correct as chance. Moreover, with regard to media experts and opinionizers, the more confident an expert seems (Rush Limbaugh, anyone?), the more convincing he is, and the less likely he is to be correct.

1) Who do you trust the most?  Friends? Family? Yourself?

2) What conclusions can we draw from this chart?  Who ranked high/ low?

3) When was this survey taken?  Have the numbers changed? Why/not?

4) Can polls and pollsters be trusted? Why/not?

5) Should we trust our first impressions about a person?

6) Who is the most trusted person in America? Do you agree?  Why/  not?