{"id":283483,"date":"2023-10-16T10:16:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T08:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=283483"},"modified":"2023-10-16T10:16:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T08:16:34","slug":"science-hero-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=283483","title":{"rendered":"Science Hero-Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Why It Happens and 5 Things You Can Do About It<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Climate Scepticism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0JOHN RIDGWAY<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science hero-worship became deadly in 2020. Many political leaders unquestioningly supported what scientists claimed to be effective prevention measures. Over the course of the pandemic, people died believing the vaccines to be 100% safe and effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science hero-worship is not new, of course. But it is more important than ever to understand why some people uncritically accept scientific explanations \u2013 and what can be done to create critical barriers to the blind acceptance of science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my soon to be written book \u201cScience Hero-Worship: Why It Happens and 5 Things You Can Do About It<\/em>,\u201d I will offer ways for you to understand and combat the problem. Despite a lack of credentials in psychology, I still know that everyone is susceptible to forms of science hero-worship. Most importantly, I know there are solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s my advice on how to confront five psychological challenges that can lead to science hero-worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before I go any further, I have a confession to make. There will be no book, and what you are reading here is very far from being an original article. What I am actually doing is taking an article you can find on The Conversation<\/em>, titled \u201cScience Denial: Why It Happens and 5 Things You Can Do About It<\/em>\u201d, and tweaking it ever so slightly to show just how easy it is to turn the weapon on the owner. Keeping that in mind, please continue reading but feel free to consult the original<\/a> to see how little needed changing in order to do the old switcheroo. Anyway, back to \u2018my\u2019 article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge #1: Social identity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are social beings and tend to align with those who hold similar beliefs and values. Social media amplify alliances. You\u2019re likely to see more of what you already agree with and fewer alternative points of view. People live in information filter bubbles created by powerful algorithms. And when journalists share misinformation, you are more likely to believe it and share it. Misinformation multiplies and science hero-worship grows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Action #1: Each person has multiple social identities. I talked with a climate change catastrophe believer and discovered he was also a grandparent. He opened up when thinking about his grandchildren\u2019s future, and the conversation turned to economic concerns, caused by thoughts of Net Zero. Or maybe someone is unaware of the invalidity of the ONS data on vaccines<\/a> because so are mothers in her child\u2019s play group, but she is also a caring person, concerned about the potential dangers of vaccines to immunocompromised children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have found it effective to listen to others\u2019 concerns and try to find common ground. Someone you connect with is more persuasive than those with whom you share less in common. When one identity is encouraging blind acceptance of the science, leverage a second identity to make a connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, I\u2019m going to have to stop right here because there are such things as copyright laws, and the switcheroo was so ridiculously simple that I have probably overstepped them already. There are, of course, four more challenges listed in The Conversation<\/em> article with four corresponding actions to be taken. You will just have to take my word for it that very little would need to be changed within the remainder of the article to switch it from being half-baked instruction on how to tackle \u2018science denialism\u2019 into half-baked instruction on how to tackle blind faith in what scientists say \u2013 or, more to the point, what journalists say about what scientists say. Specifically, we have:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge #2: Mental Shortcuts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In which the authors claim that \u2018science denialism\u2019 stems from people not bothering to take their time to think seriously about the science, preferring instead to fall back on lazy System 1 thinking. This is, of course, referring to the concept of System 1 and System 2 thinking devised by Kahneman and Tversky, and popularised in their book<\/a>, \u201cThinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>\u201d. It doesn\u2019t seem to have occurred to the authors that intuitive System 1 thinking and deliberative System 2 thinking are equally relevant to decision-making, and that we all take advantage of their complementary nature regardless of where we fall on the denialist\/believer axis. In fact, the easiest way to avoid System 2 thinking is to fall back on trusting the guy in the white coat carrying the clipboard. Remember, the authors are both psychology professors and so they have no excuse for committing such a gaffe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge #3: Beliefs on how and what you know<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In which the authors repeat the canard<\/a> that the bewildering and rapidly changing advice given out by scientists during the Covid crisis was just science working at its best and that to think otherwise betrays a failure to understand how science is supposed to work. Science, the authors patiently point out, is not about certainties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of \u2018science denialism\u2019 is also blamed on an imagined cohort of fair-minded journalists who, by presenting both sides of arguments, are giving the false impression that there is still debate to be had in areas where the science has already been settled. Science, the authors patiently point out, is all about certainties, as exemplified by the well-known 97% consensus on climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge #4: Motivated reasoning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In which the authors, as you might expect, seem to think that \u2018science denialists\u2019 are uniquely guilty. As per the advice they gave against employing mental shortcuts, the \u2018science denier\u2019 is encouraged to read around a subject before drawing a conclusion. Damn it! That\u2019s where I have been going wrong all these years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge #5: Emotions and attitudes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In which the authors warn against letting one\u2019s emotions play too great a role in one\u2019s decision-making. Once again, this is a trait that is supposedly unique to the \u2018science denier\u2019 and could not possibly play a role in one\u2019s willingness to swallow uncritically everything that scientists say about a posited existential threat. After all, since when has fear been an emotion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, the article in The Conversation<\/em>, is yet another piece of sceptic-bashing nonsense in which the authors extol the benefits of critical thinking whilst failing miserably to employ it themselves. The two professors concerned make much of the dangers of \u2018living in information filter bubbles\u2019 whilst giving every impression of occupying one of their own. They warn against mental shortcuts but certainly seem to have fallen under their spell when seeking to interpret the relevance of System 1 and System 2 thinking. They bemoan the failure of the general public to understand the true nature of the scientific enterprise, but I see very little evidence that they have any greater understanding, despite (or because of?) their academic background. They chastise those who engage in motivated reasoning but I suspect that their own reasoning is as motivated as it gets. And, whilst they lay claim to an understanding that emotion is important in decision-making, as long as it is not allowed to get out of hand, one wonders how strongly their own emotions were running when they saw fit to produce such an obviously partisan piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a serious debate to be had regarding the relationship between science and the general public, but one of the greatest polluters of that debate is a large group of academics who insist on pathologising scepticism, and yet seem incapable of offering any legitimate insights regarding genuinely distinctive traits. Whether it be major offenders such as Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook, or relatively small time felons such as the individuals who wrote this article, all seem to be very much part of the problem whilst purporting to offer the solution. Sadly, therefore, I will not be rushing out to buy \u201cScience Denial: Why It Happens and 5 Things You Can Do About It<\/em>\u201d. Instead, I will wait for the much more promising, \u201cPsycho-babble Books: Why They Are Written and 5 Things You Should Prefer to Spend Your Money On<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why It Happens and 5 Things You Can Do About It From Climate Scepticism BY\u00a0JOHN RIDGWAY Science hero-worship became deadly in 2020. Many political leaders unquestioningly supported what scientists claimed to be effective prevention measures. Over the course of the pandemic, people died believing the vaccines to be 100% safe and effective. Science hero-worship is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":283487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Why It Happens and 5 Things You Can Do About It","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691821332,691820528,691818154,691820498,691823662],"class_list":{"0":"post-283483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-fake-covid-crisis","10":"tag-misinformation","11":"tag-net-zero","12":"tag-safe-and-effective","13":"tag-science-hero-worship","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0pexels-life-of-wu-3381013.jpg?fit=1053%2C597&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1bKj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":339321,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339321","url_meta":{"origin":283483,"position":0},"title":"Study: \u201cInsidious\u201d Repetition of Climate Skeptic Claims Creates Doubt","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/08\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The study authors stop short of calling for outright censorship, but \u201cMedia are crucial in all of this because the science is settled \u2026 We know \u2026 what needs to be done in response and we know the timeframe\u201c.","rel":"","context":"In \"Australian National University\"","block_context":{"text":"Australian National University","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australian-national-university"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0Screenshot-2024-08-12-145244.png?fit=1193%2C672&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0Screenshot-2024-08-12-145244.png?fit=1193%2C672&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0Screenshot-2024-08-12-145244.png?fit=1193%2C672&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0Screenshot-2024-08-12-145244.png?fit=1193%2C672&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0Screenshot-2024-08-12-145244.png?fit=1193%2C672&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":360291,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=360291","url_meta":{"origin":283483,"position":1},"title":"The stupid nation: The UK Gov wants to \u201cde-Westernize\u201d science","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Science has no race \u2014 it is true, or it isn\u2019t. 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