TOK Exhibition Prompt 22 - What role do experts play in influencing our consumption or acquisition of knowledge?

This is another interesting TOK exhibition prompt. As with any TOK exhibition, your first task is to develop your argument(s) for your objects. Experts can play a variety of roles—convincing, preventative, encouraging, demotivating, destructive, affirmative, or guiding—when it comes to influencing our knowledge “consumption” or “acquisition.” You might even take a different angle and argue that experts don’t influence our knowledge at all.

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For example, experts often influence knowledge acquisition authoritatively, leading us to accept information based on their credibility. They also influence knowledge consumption in a diversifying way, introducing multiple perspectives and broadening our horizons. However, their influence can also be restrictive, discouraging independent exploration through over-reliance on their opinions. On the other hand, some might argue that experts have little to no influence when individuals prioritize personal experiences or alternative sources over expert opinions.

These examples represent knowledge arguments or claims you can develop before selecting your objects. Let’s say you choose a YouTube video or a blog post by a nutritionist warning about the dangers of sugar and insisting we ban it entirely. This could represent the claim that experts don’t significantly influence some people’s knowledge acquisition. Why? Because you might explain why you wouldn’t follow the advice of any expert banning an ingredient from your life, instead relying on personal experiences or alternative sources. Whether you’re right or wrong isn’t the point of the TOK exhibition. The goal is to showcase objects that represent knowledge claims related to the prompt.

Now, let’s clear up a common misconception: the idea that TOK exhibition objects must be personal is, well, just a myth. Objects must be specific, meaning not generic, but they don’t need to be personal items. For example, an image of a vaccine, a food supplement, a cigarette, a coursebook, or bitcoin won’t work—they’re too generic. However, a tweet about a particular vaccine by a health organization or doctor, or the image of the protein powder your cousin uses following his trainer’s recommendation, are specific enough to be used as objects.

Finally, the most important part of your commentaries is justifying the inclusion of your objects. What does that even mean? Simply put, you need to explain why you chose this object over another. What makes it relevant and meaningful? Your justification should directly respond to the knowledge claim you’ve developed. Avoid lengthy descriptions; a couple of sentences are enough to explain what the object is and where it comes from. The rest of your commentary should focus on “explaining” rather than “describing.”

TOK Exhibition Prompt 22