Science Denial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gale Sinatra ◽  
Barbara Hofer
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Epistemic Cognition ◽  
Childhood Diseases ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Psychological Constructs ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Health And Well Being

How do individuals decide whether to accept human causes of climate change, vaccinate their children against childhood diseases, or practice social distancing during a pandemic? Democracies depend on educated citizens who can make informed decisions for the benefit of their health and well-being, as well as their communities, nations, and planet. Understanding key psychological explanations for science denial and doubt can help provide a means for improving scientific literacy and understanding—critically important at a time when denial has become deadly. In Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It, the authors identify the problem and why it matters and offer tools for addressing it. This book explains both the importance of science education and its limitations, shows how science communicators may inadvertently contribute to the problem, and explains how the internet and social media foster misinformation and disinformation. The authors focus on key psychological constructs such as reasoning biases, social identity, epistemic cognition, and emotions and attitudes that limit or facilitate public understanding of science, and describe solutions for individuals, educators, science communicators, and policy makers. If you have ever wondered why science denial exists, want to know how to understand your own biases and those of others, and would like to address the problem, this book will provide the insights you are seeking.

How Do Individuals Think About Knowledge and Knowing?

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-121
Author(s):  
Gale M. Sinatra ◽  
Barbara K. Hofer
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Epistemic Cognition ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
New Information ◽  
Scientific Claims ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Reasoning About Knowledge

In everyday encounters with new information, conflicting ideas, and claims made by others, one has to decide who and what to believe. Can one trust what scientists say? What’s the best source of information? These are questions that involve thinking and reasoning about knowledge, or what psychologists call “epistemic cognition.” In Chapter 5, “How Do Individuals Think About Knowledge and Knowing?,” the authors explain how public misunderstanding of scientific claims can often be linked to misconceptions about the scientific enterprise itself. Drawing on their own research and that of others, the authors explain how individuals’ thinking about knowledge influences their science doubt, resistance, and denial. They explain how educators and communicators can enhance public understanding of science by emphasizing how scientific knowledge is created and evaluated and why it should be valued.

Communicating the Public Health Risks of Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda R. Weathers ◽  
Edward Maibach ◽  
Matthew Nisbet
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Health Community ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Health And Well Being

Effective public communication and engagement have played important roles in ameliorating and managing a wide range of public health problems including tobacco and substance use, cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, vaccine preventable diseases, sudden infant death syndrome, and automobile injuries and fatalities. The public health community must harness what has been learned about effective public communication to alert and engage the public and policy makers about the health threats of climate change. This need is driven by three main factors. First, people’s health is already being harmed by climate change, and the magnitude of this harm is almost certain to get much worse if effective actions are not soon taken to limit climate change and to help communities successfully adapt to unavoidable changes in their climate. Therefore, public health organizations and professionals have a responsibility to inform communities about these risks and how they can be averted. Second, historically, climate change public engagement efforts have focused primarily on the environmental dimensions of the threat. These efforts have mobilized an important but still relatively narrow range of the public and policy makers. In contrast, the public health community holds the potential to engage a broader range of people, thereby enhancing climate change understanding and decision-making capacity among members of the public, the business community, and government officials. Third, many of the actions that slow or prevent climate change, and that protect human health from the harms associated with climate change, also benefit health and well-being in ways unrelated to climate change. These “cobenefits” to societal action on climate change include reduced air and water pollution, increased physical activity and decreased obesity, reduced motor-vehicle–related injuries and death, increased social capital in and connections across communities, and reduced levels of depression. Therefore, from a public health perspective, actions taken to address climate change are a “win-win” in that in addition to responsibly addressing climate change, they can help improve public health and well-being in other ways as well. Over the past half decade, U.S.-based researchers have been investigating the factors that shape public views about the health risks associated with climate change, the communication strategies that motivate support for actions to reduce these risks, and the practical implications for public health organizations and professionals who seek to effectively engage individuals and their communities. This research serves as a model for similar work that can be conducted across country settings and international publics. Until only recently, the voices of public health experts have been largely absent from the public dialogue on climate change, a dialogue that is often erroneously framed as an “economy versus the environment” debate. Introducing the public health voice into the public dialogue can help communities see the issue in a new light, motivating and promoting more thoughtful decision making.

scholarly journals Fundamentals of logic, reasoning, and argumentation: an evidence-supported curriculum targeting scientific literacy to increase public understanding and engagement in science

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
La Shun L. Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Synthetic Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Logic Reasoning

<p>The purpose of this article is to present an evidence-supported curriculum covering the fundamentals of logic, reasoning, and argumentation skills to address the emphasized basic knowledge, skills, and abilities required to be scientifically literate, which will prepare the public to understand and engage with science meaningfully.  An analytic-synthetic approach toward understanding the notion of public is taken using a theoretical biomimetics framework that identifies naturally occurring objects or phenomena that descriptively captures the essence of a construct to facilitate creative problem- solving.  In the present case, the problem being solved is how to reconcile what is meant by public, how it ought to be interpreted, determining the diverse levels of confidence in science that exist, and various understandings of science all with one another.  The results demonstrate there is an inherent denotative-connotative inconsistency in the traditional notion of public that can be explicated through the concept of a fractal allowing for comprehension of the relationship between public confidence in, and understanding of, science.</p>

scholarly journals Communicating Science and Technology. Gradiva’s Books of Popularization of Science and Technology and the Portuguese Public

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-118
Author(s):  
Inês N. Navalhas
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Portuguese Population ◽  
Popularization Of Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The One

Abstract By focusing on the books of popularization of science and technology published by Gradiva this research aims at understanding the mechanisms and strategies to bring science and technology to a broader audience in Portugal, after 1974, the year of the Carnation Revolution that put an end to a long half century dictatorship. I use a mix conceptual framework: on the one hand, I use the scientific literacy and public understanding of science and technology main references to explore the public’s behavior and opinion concerning scientific and technological knowledge; on the other hand, I analyze Gradiva’s choices concerning the collections aimed at popularizing science and technology. So, I hope to contribute to map the perception of the Portuguese public about techno-scientific themes that influence their life and decisions, to understand how scientists relate to scientific and technological popularization literature and to assess scientific literacy in the Portuguese population.

scholarly journals From liquid nitrogen to public engagement and city planning: the changing role of science events

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. C03 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Riise ◽  
Leonardo Alfonsi
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Complex Data ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Cultural Sector ◽  
Changing Role

Public understanding of science has been replaced by engagement and participation, and science events, like festivals and science days, have become significant actors by offering direct contacts between scientists, public and policy-makers, as opportunities to engage and participate. After more than 20 years of festivals and events, the need for impact evidence is strong, although it is acknowledged that it will have to be based on complex data and observations. Many science events look for collaboration within the cultural sector. Social inclusion and participation in local and regional development are other important issues for the science events community.

scholarly journals A Critical Examination of Senior Housing: Promoting Equity Through Ensuring Safe Spaces

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 398-398
Author(s):  
Zach Kilgore ◽  
Michael Appel ◽  
Michele Waktins ◽  
Claudia Sanford ◽  
Dennis Archambault ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Department ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Senior Housing ◽  
Safe Spaces ◽  
The City ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract As affordable senior housing communities aimed to address the health and well-being concerns of residents in the COVID-19 pandemic, special attention to safety during renovation had to be addressed. This paper offers case studies from members of a city-wide advocacy group, Senior Housing Preservation-Detroit. Eighty one percent of covid deaths in the City of Detroit are those 60 and above; 81.2% of deaths have been among African Americans (Detroit Health Department, 2021). With the grief and challenge in a city hit early on in the 2020 pandemic, these case studies will highlight how Covid-19 affected planned projects in senior buildings, how stakeholders such as developers, staff and residents responded and key considerations for future emergencies affecting senior housing communities. This paper offers critical perspectives applicable to many urban landscapes in order to raise awareness to policy makers, and practitioners.

scholarly journals Child health in Latin America: historiographic perspectives and challenges

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 677-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Emanuelle Birn
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Infant And Child Health ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
And Child Health

Patterns of child health and well-being in Latin America's past - have been assumed to be delayed and derivative of European and North Americanexperiences. Through an examination of recent historiography, this essay traces a more complex reality: interest in infant and child health in Latin America arose from a range of domestic and regional prerogatives. This attention was rooted in preColumbian cultures, then relegated to the private sphere during the colonial period, except for young public wards. Starting in the 19th century, professionals, reformers, and policy-makers throughout the region regarded child health as a matter central to building modern societies. Burgeoning initiatives were also linked to international priorities and developments, not through one-way diffusion but via ongoing interaction of ideas and experts. Despite pioneering approaches to children's rights and health in Latin America, commitment to child well-being has remained uneven, constrained in many settings by problematic political and economic conditions uch.

What Can We Do About Science Denial, Doubt, and Resistance?

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-184
Author(s):  
Gale M. Sinatra ◽  
Barbara K. Hofer
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Research On Teaching ◽  
Informed Citizenry ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
K 12

In this final chapter, “What Can We Do About Science Denial, Doubt, and Resistance?,” the authors summarize and expand their suggestions for improving public understanding and acceptance of scientific knowledge. They review their recommendations for how individuals can think critically about science, become aware of cognitive biases, and better evaluate scientific information. As educators, the authors draw on their combined decades of research on teaching critical thinking and reasoning to make practical recommendations that teachers in K–12 and higher education classrooms can adopt to develop science-savvy students capable of evaluating evidence and making informed decisions. They remind science communicators of the critical role they play in supporting public understanding of science and caution that they may inadvertently play into the public’s confusion about issues where scientists actually have strong consensus. The authors conclude with recommendations for what policy makers can do to support science education; combat science denial, doubt, and misunderstanding; and create a better-informed citizenry.

Women as Public Scientists in the Atomic Age

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsha L. Richmond
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Induced Mutations ◽  
Atomic Age ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Rachel Carson ◽  
The Public ◽  
Radiation Induced ◽  
Informed Citizenry

With the onset of the atomic age in 1945, geneticists increasingly spoke out about how nuclear fallout and radiation impacted heredity and reproduction. The scholarship discussing post–World War II activism focuses almost exclusively on males, with little attention given to women who served as public scientists or the role gender played in gaining public trust and influencing policy makers. This paper examines two women, both trained in genetics, who became activists in the 1950s and 1960s to educate the public about the dangers radiation and wartime chemicals posed to the human germ plasm. In Genetics in the Atomic Age (1956), Charlotte Auerbach (1899–1994) described basic genetic principles to explain why radiation-induced mutations could be harmful. In Silent Spring (1962), Rachel Carson (1907–1964) drew on genetics to warn about the possible mutagenic properties of DDT along with other concerns. Both women fostered scientific literacy to empower an informed citizenry that could influence public policy. They appealed both to men and to the growing cadre of middle-class educated women, encouraging an expanded role for maternal responsibility: not only protecting families but also the well-being of all humankind. This essay is part of a special issue entitled THE BONDS OF HISTORY edited by Anita Guerrini.

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