Professionally Responsible Communication with the Public: Giving Psychology a Way

1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 675-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Cialdini
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
The Media

The larger society, which has paid for social science, deserves a fuller and more meaningful exposure to what social scientists have learned with its money. Moreovei; social science would benefit in financial support and prestige from such exposure. The popular media constitute the most powerful vehicle for and the most formidable barrier against the professionally responsible communication of social science to the public. An approach for communicating responsibly with the public through the media is described. A central component of that approach seens dishonest but is shown not to be upon close analysis. It advises scientists to respond to the poor questions they may be asked by media representatives with answers to the good questions they could have been asked. Booming About Big Issues

Popularization and Consilience

2021 ◽  
pp. 212-232
Author(s):  
Matt Grossmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Public Concerns

Social science makes its way into public debate, raising concerns about publicity-seeking scholarship but also opening up potential benefits for engagement across disciplines and society. Social science debates are no longer, if they ever were, confined to universities and obscure journals; they are now central parts of popular media and political debate. Associated scholarly motivations for public influence drive research, then popular discussion of research findings feeds back into scholarship. The increasing role of media attention, popular nonfiction, and think tanks changes the incentives and the practices of social scientists. Popularized scholarship not only (mis)informs the public and policymakers, but also shapes interdisciplinary debates. This enables integration by concentrating diverse minds on public concerns. Sociobiology shows that scholars with very different views of human nature have put forward popular accounts, responded to one another, and created an ongoing space for advancing knowledge.

scholarly journals How to do things with epigenetics: An investigation into the use of metaphors to promote alternative approaches to health and social science, and their implications for interdisciplinary collaboration

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitte Nerlich ◽  
Aleksandra Stelmach ◽  
Catherine Ennis
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Alternative Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
The Public Sphere

Epigenetics is a multifaceted field within genetics and genomics which focuses on discovering mechanisms involved in gene expression and regulation. It came to public attention around the turn of the millennium when the human genome began to be deciphered. Initial findings from epigenetics research held the promise of changing how we think about health and illness, evolution and heredity; speculations about how individuals and populations could begin to control such processes through epigenetics were then picked up in the public realm. In this article we concentrate on two normally distant domains within the public sphere: the advertising of alternative health products and services, and the promotion of alternative approaches to social science, especially around how social science deals with the ‘biosocial’. Using insights from social representations theory and methods aligned with metaphor analysis, we investigate the meanings of epigenetics rooted in the use of metaphors and commonplaces that are circulating in current popular parlance and that are used to promote academic theories and ideas as well as tangible products and services. We compare and contrast them and assess their implications for collaborations between natural and social scientists. Our findings reveal some surprising similarities between the metaphors and commonplaces used by advertisers and social scientists, based in large part on the fact that both groups draw on the work of prominent epigeneticists. In both instances some fundamental tenets of mainstream biology are contested, and hopes are created for improving individual or population well-being through the manipulation of epigenetic mechanisms. Both domains share some misunderstandings of epigenetics that might lead to problems with interdisciplinary collaborations between social and natural scientists.

Le marketing du Neuromarketing : Enjeux académiques d’un domaine de recherche controversé

2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Wannyn
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Consumer Behaviour ◽  
Scientific Field ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
The Public ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
The Media ◽  
Controversial Topic ◽  
Shifting Boundaries

Since the 1990s, a growing number of social science researchers collaborate in the creation of areas of research such as neurolaw, neuroeducation, neuroeconomy or neuromarketing. Sometimes referred to as ‘neurodisciplines’, these areas of research share a common postulate: the measure and analysis of the nervous system’s activity offers the possibility of discovering new ways of explaining human behaviour. Neuromarketing first appeared in the early 2000s and has developped in both university laboratories and private ones. Neuromarketers aim to understand consumer behaviour by applying neuroscientific theories and methods of measuring neurobiological activity to marketing questions. As a controversial topic, neuromarketing is critized in both the public space and academia. Some members of the media, some consumer associations and some neuromarketers see neuromarketing as having a more or less realistic power of persuasion (Lindstrom, 2009) while most neuroscientists qualify it as a scam or publicity stunt (Nature, 2004). Starting from bibliometric analysis of neuromarketing publications, we define the shifting boundaries of this area of research whose subject itself is still opened to debate. Building on Pierre Bourdieu’s work on the scientific field, we highlight the forces that shape this speciality both in and out of the academic field. Based on semidirective interviews, we demonstrate that neuromarketers have to develop discursive strategies to distance themselves from the controversial image of neuromarketing and adopt publication strategies in order to disseminate the results of their research in the scientific field.

Parse Publicity’s Pros and Cons

2021 ◽  
pp. 257-263
Author(s):  
Dennis Meredith
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Communication Training ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
The Media ◽  
Science Media

Efforts to publicize research can have both pros and cons for researchers. Working with the media presents both important benefits and pitfalls. Understanding them will help you accentuate the positives and minimize the negatives of media coverage. Media coverage offers research credibility, helps discover collaborators, sparks new ideas, provides communication training, helps a researcher’s field, protects from inaccuracies, educates the public, and sparks public participation in science. However, publicity can also distract or detract from a career, promulgate errors committed by the media, and reveal painful truths. For many scientists the popular media are not their most important audience, but techniques learned from working with them will help you work with journalists from important science media.

Beyond Secularization

2011 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-662
Author(s):  
Thomas Heilke
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Front Seat ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Peter Berger ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media

“Religion” has retaken a front seat in the news. Its presence in the media is echoed in the concerns of policymakers, whence it is more strongly felt again in the thinking and writing of social scientists. Concerning religion, “resurgence” is a word that shows up in many a social science title of late. For scholars such as sociologist Rodney Stark, this language is merely further evidence of a deep-seated secularist inattention in the social sciences: religion has never been absent from human affairs, it just hasn't been of interest to prejudiced scholars. “Pluralism, not secularism, is the dominant trend in an ‘age of explosive, pervasive religiosity,’” argues former secularization theorist Peter Berger in the title words of his 2006 article. The three books under consideration here do not share directly in either of these arguments. Nor do any make a claim for “resurgence,” though each author acknowledges some version of the secularization myth and its dismantling in developments and events of the recent past, and each knowingly writes in that context (Benne, 2–6; Buruma, 1–3; Beiner, xiv n11, 4–5, 312).

scholarly journals Digital resources in popular media practices in Brazil: strategies to reduce asymmetries in the public debate

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Cristina Suzina
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
The Public ◽  
Community Associations ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Practices

This article discusses issues related to the development of popular media in the context of an asymmetric democracy, such as Brazil. It is mostly based in an empirical study which included 55 media experiences all over the country. The objective is to observe the use of digital resources in media practices developed by social movements and community associations, analyzing how it can contribute to the emergence of a plurality of voices in the public debate. The findings suggest a concrete improvement in the media production process and also in the capacity of reaching audiences, especially those outside their niches. But as long as this enlargement of diffusion range can be read as a progress, it also reveals paradoxes while grassroots communities stand far from a stable connected world. The answer could come from a stronger articulation between digital and analogical media strategies.

From Afghanistan to Iraq in Media Maps: Journalistic Construction of Geographic Knowledge

2006 ◽  
pp. 55-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert R. Churchill ◽  
E. Hope Stege
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Marked Rise ◽  
American Military ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Magazines ◽  
Geographic Knowledge ◽  
The Media ◽  
Early Maps

The last two decades have seen a marked rise in the number of maps in the popular media, yet academic interest in journalistic cartography remains low, though the bulk of the public relies on the media for its geographic knowledge. Because they invoke a sense of belonging, identity, and allegiance, the number of media maps, like flags and other patriotic icons, increases during conflict. From the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan until the proclamation of victory in Iraq almost two years later, three major American news magazines published nearly 200 related maps. Early maps of Afghanistan affirmed U.S. military prowess and promised quick retribution, but with the failure of this promise, pointed to obstacles from terrain to climate. As interest in Afghanistan cooled and rhetoric over Iraq heated up, cartographic attention shifted accordingly. Initial maps of Iraq were provocative, focusing especially on the state’s supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction. Maps again depicted American military might, and as the invasion progressed seemingly unimpeded, Baghdad came into cartographic focus. In these compositions the melding of artwork, remotely sensed images, and photography lends even greater veracity to the maps themselves, which not only convey but also construct both political and geographic knowledge.

Society as a Vocation: Renewing Social Science for Social Renewal

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Public University ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Public ◽  
A Value ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
New Form ◽  
Twenty First Century

The twentieth century witnessed the professionalisation of social science by making science its vocation. The twenty-first century must see social science become normative, with society its vocation. The paradox of neoliberalism is that its attack on the public university has forced social science to advance its public value and the grounds on which it is a public good in its own right, the outcome of which is that we must shift from science to society as our vocation. If society is to be the object of our life's commitment as social scientists – a vocation in that sense – then we pursue it with enthusiasm, sponsor and advance its interests, look to its renewal and improvement, and continually refine and enhance our understanding of it. This requires both a value-orientated and scientific approach, making social science scientific and normative at the same time. This new form of public social science is better suited to civic engagement and community empowerment as a form of co-produced knowledge appropriate to the wicked problems facing us in the twenty-first century. The argument, in other words, is that to better effect social renewal, we need first to renew social science.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document