Public Trust in Scientists is High

hardly only great

any some deal

2016

N ≈ 2000. The means reflect the “true” population mean at ≤ ± 0.03, 0.95 LC.
Means calculated with “hardly any” scored as 1, “only some” as 2, and “great
deal” as 3. Institutions listed in descending order of confidence (most to least).
But They Have Some Weird Beliefs
And They Question Settled Science
Not Speaking the Same Language
NO RESTING

NO VOTING

NO MORALIZING
Scientists Have Their Own Problems
Informal Science is Important
 Sources of Science Information

• About 60% of students turn to the Internet first to

find information. Only 2% turn to a book first.
• In science classes, students get their information
online (70%), textbooks come in last (7%).
• Their most important information sources are
teachers (90%), Internet (80%), Wikipedia (50%).
• Among middle and high school students, doing
research equals using Google for 95%.

College students turn primarily to the Internet for science

information, although teachers are seen as more reliable.
Books are rarely used, despite being authoritative sources.
 The Internet is Full of Pseudoscience

The sum of the top 100 terms is 1.3 billion pages.

The number of “Science” pages is less, 1.1 billion.
Some is Fake and Quite Funny
Some is Fake and Not at all Funny
 Politics Influences Science Beliefs

r = - 0.65, p < 0.01

From the Cultural Cognition project of Dan Kahan at Yale

University, perceptions of risks on some scientific issues
(guns, fracking, climate) have a strongly political aspect.
 Polarization of Scientific Opinions
There is “solid evidence” of recent global warming due “mostly”
to “human activity such as burning fossil fuels.” [agree, disagree]
1

Liberal
Probability of “agree”

.75 Democrat

.5
Conservative
Republican
.25

N = 1600, shaded areas denote 0.95 CIs.

0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2
Ordinary Science Intelligence (percentile)

It’s counter-intuitive, but Cultural Cognition research shows

that polarization increases with science comprehension. So
the cultural context for knowledge must be accommodated.
The Science Media Landscape
Human and Machine Approaches
Training a Neural Net
Browser Extension and Smartphone App
 Knowledge

Belief

Initial Stance Basis for Belief Nature of Knowledge

Science Skepticism Evidentiary Collective over personal

Religion Faith Revelatory Personal over collective

 Beliefs and Science Literacy

Agree ≥ 4 Disagree 2 ≤
Factors
(across factor) (across factor)
Belief in UFOs Mean = 11.33 (2.27) Mean = 11.11 (2.36)
or Aliens n = 1519 n = 701

Faith-based Mean = 10.84 (2.30) Mean = 11.89 (2.22)

Beliefs n = 1156 n = 762

Unscientific Mean = 10.92 (2.32) Mean = 11.62 (2.32)

Beliefs n = 1301 n = 1330

Students beliefs and attitudes on scientific issues weren’t

highly correlated with science knowledge. Pseudoscience
beliefs are not at odds with a functional scientific literacy.
Evolution Worldwide
 Knowledge Evolution
Comprehrension
Gravity

Time’s Arrow
Belief
Irrational Rational
UFOs Dark Matter
Lunacy
Mind & Brain
Astrology
Lucky Numbers Dark Energy
Ghosts
Moon Hoax String Theory
Incomprehrension
1 in 12 People Think This is Fake
 The Danger of Sciencism

Theory of Too Much

Is

Current Theory

Theory of Everything

Isn’t
 Science and the Imagination

Imaginable

Possible

Is

Isn’t
 Improving Science Communication

• Science and scientists are held is high esteem,

but levels of science literacy are stable and low.
• Most exposure to science is not in a classroom,
but in informal settings like science museums.
• People turn overwhelmingly to the Internet for
science information; it’s awash with bad science.
• Belief systems are largely immune to instruction
and form a context for thinking about science.
• The best strategies involve dialog and sensitivity
to social and cultural contexts of the audience.

THE END