Attention First, Understanding Next: Overcoming the Illusion of Communication

Send us Fan Mail

"The great enemy of communication...is the illusion of it." In this episode, we pull apart why your message might not be landing with your intended audience—or reaching them at all. From System 1 vs System 2 to creative risk, trade‑offs, and trusted messengers, we cover:
 
 • getting your audience's attention in a crowded media climate
 • from the Health Podcast Summit: three reasons messages fail
 • health literacy beyond reading level: access, design, inclusion
 • empathy for trade‑offs and offering workable alternatives
 • new research on the "truth sandwich" and correcting misinformation

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Links from the episode:

Quote: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/08/31/illusion/

Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow

CPSC links: https://www.instagram.com/uscpsc/; https://bsky.app/profile/cpsc.gov

Dumb Ways to Die:

• Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw
• Website: https://www.dumbwaystodie.com/

Aaron Carroll, MD, MS: https://academyhealth.org/about/people/aaron-e-carroll-md-ms

Health Podcast Summit: https://summit.healthpodcast.co/

Some research on the backfire effect:

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-010-9112-2
• https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/133/4/e835/32713/Effective-Messages-in-Vaccine-Promotion-A?redirectedFrom=fulltext
• https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2819073

Truth sandwich: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_sandwich

“The truth sandwich format does not enhance the correction of misinformation” (Swire-Thompson et al) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40860910/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This podcast is a project of the Center for Injury Research Translation and Communication (CIRTC). Connect with CIRTC: www.cirtc.org

Find CIRTC on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and YouTube.

Note: all thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are personal and not representative of any organization.