Is ignorance really bliss? When it comes to global issues on religion, technology, murder rates, and terrorism, probably not.
But the latest Perils of Perception online survey by market research firm Ipsos reveals that Filipinos online are distressingly ignorant on those topics.
The study, which surveyed about 500 Filipinos aged 16 to 64 last year, asked questions like:
“Do you think the murder rate in [COUNTRY] is higher, lower or about the same as it was in 2000?”
“In the 15-year period after the September 11th attacks (2002-2016) do you think there were more, less, or about the same number of deaths caused by terrorist attacks in [COUNTRY] compared with the 15 year period before the September 11th attacks (1985-2000)? The 15-year period after the September 11th attacks we are asking you to think about is from 2002 to 2016 and does not include 2017.
“Do you think the following statement is true or false? Some vaccines cause autism in healthy children.”
Based on their “misperceptions index,” the Philippines ranked a brutal third out of 38 countries in terms of having the least accurate perception of these topics. Only South Africa, which tops the list, and Brazil scored worse.
The study found that countries at the top of the misperceptions list tend to be ones with relatively low internet penetration because the online survey only reached a middle-class demographic with access to the internet.
Recent data from analytics agency We Are Social shows that Filipinos last year spent more time on social media than the citizens of any other country on earth, this despite only 63 percent of the population having access to the internet. To offer some perspective, Sweden, the country that ranked the best in terms of accurate perceptions of global issues, has a 97 percent internet access rate.
It’s important to note, though, that because the Perils of Perception survey was only conducted in 38 countries, those with the least internet penetration like Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau — along with many other countries — are not part of the ranking.
The survey concluded that a lot of people’s misperceptions are caused by how news and entertainment cover certain issues, people’s tendency to dwell on specific issues they’re worried about, or simply that people just aren’t that good at math.
Think you you’ll do better than most Filipinos? Take this quiz and find out. It’s harder than you think.
