How a Single Source of Information Can Seem Like Several

11 snips

Aug 11, 2025

Joe Schwarcz, a chemistry professor at McGill University, delves into the Vitamin C controversy stemming from Linus Pauling's unfounded health claims. His story reveals how a revered scientist can influence public perception despite lacking solid evidence. Florian Zimmermann, an economics professor at the University of Bonn, discusses correlation neglect, illustrating how multiple recommendations from a single source can skew our understanding. Both guests highlight the importance of critically evaluating information sources in a world swamped with repetitive messages.

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ANECDOTE

Viral Marketing Created A Fake Trend

The Stanley Quencher became a cultural phenomenon driven by coordinated influencer marketing.
What looked like organic enthusiasm actually started from a single marketing campaign.

ANECDOTE

Nobel Laureate Promoted Megadoses Of Vitamin C

Linus Pauling publicly claimed vitamin C prevented colds and promoted massive dosages.
His celebrity status and book spread this claim widely despite weak evidence.

INSIGHT

Repetition Makes Claims Feel True

Repeating a claim across outlets increases its perceived truth, even without evidence.
Pauling's vitamin C claim sounded true because it was amplified repeatedly.

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You've probably been in situations where multiple friends recommend the same product. It must be great, if everyone is talking about it, right? But then you find out that those friends had all just seen the same product on a popular TV show. What seemed like independent recommendations really came from a single source.

In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we consider the consequences of missing out on the true source of information when we're exposed to that information through multiple channels.

Joe Schwarcz tells the story of two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling and his obsession with the healing powers of vitamin C. Pauling was a venerated and accomplished chemist, so when he wrote the book Vitamin C and the Common Cold, the world took note. His claims about the health benefits of vitamin C were echoed innumerable times by health writers and influential figures in books and magazines and TV commercials. The problem was, there was little evidence to support those claims.

Joe Schwarcz is the director of the Office for Science and Society at McGill University, where he is also a professor of chemistry.

Next, Katy speaks with Florian Zimmermann about the dangers of mistaking multiple sources of information as independent.

Florian Zimmerman is a professor of economics at the University of Bonn who, along with Harvard economist Benjamin Enke, uncovered the problem of correlation neglect.

Choiceology is an original podcast from Charles Schwab. For more on the show, visit schwab.com/podcast.

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