2012
In this paper Kahan et al. argue that the public’s beliefs and values are, unfortunately and with great negative consequences, out of sync with those of scientific consensus. They then assert that any efforts to improve scientific literacy on controversial topics, like climate change, will only increase this divide.
According to the Cultural Cognition Thesis (CCT), the formation of beliefs and values is influenced by cultural cognitive mechanisms and processes which cause individuals “to form perceptions of societal risks that cohere with values characteristic of groups with which they identify” (p. 732). Thus, the struggle is not between scientists and non-scientists but between various publics. This is supported by their publicly representative survey which collected data to quantify respondent’s political leanings towards hierarchies and individualism, mathematical and scientific literacy, and perceptions of the risks related to climate change. They found clear differences in risk perception between those with different politics, with polarization between the two groups increasing as a function of mathematical and scientific literacy. This phenomenon is explained by saying that “[f]or the ordinary individual, the most consequential effect of his beliefs about climate change is likely to be on his relations with his peers” (p. 734). So, each person must “unconsciously seek out and credit information supportive of ‘‘self-defining . . . values [and] attitudes’” and “those with the highest degree of science literacy and numeracy perform such tasks even more discerningly” (p. 734). Thus, the Public Understanding of Science effort is counterproductive. This is an important contribution to science communication because it provides empirical support for cultural and psychosocial approaches to understanding public opinion.
The empirical support for the CCT outlined in this paper is especially helpful for me as it affirms the central role of culture in opinion-forming. Culture and identity, I believe, are the locations towards which I should be placing much of my attention.
Reference:
Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L. L., Braman, D., & Mandel, G. (2012). The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks. Nature Climate Change, 2(10), 732–735. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1547