Good article in Scientific American [1] reminding us that those who are science-adverse or science-ignorant in some ways embrace science in other ways. That should be obvious, in that creationists are willing to fly in airplanes and those who reject vaccines love to use their smart phones. But this article goes further, and warns us that slapping people with with a general anti-science label risks driving them further into scientific ignorance.
People’s relationship with science is much more complex and nuanced than “pro-science” or “anti-science.” We need to correct some of the misconceptions we have and show that what is often labeled as “anti-science” or “science denial” is often better understood as isolated incidents of motivated bias. In general, trust in science is much higher than we often realize, in part because it includes a lot of people we might often consider “anti-science.”
The conclusions of this article:
- There is a deep respect for scientists and the scientific process.
- People often use what they believe to be credible scientific findings to argue against actual, credible scientific findings.
- It is often the implied solutions of scientific findings that motivate denial.
- People often deny the relevance of facts, not just their correctness.
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