Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science? [National Geographic, March 2015]

[Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/science-doubters/achenbach-text]

Why do reasonable people not believe the scientific consensus over issues like vaccines, evolution, climate change, the moon landings, or GM foods?

1. We often find science awkwardly unintuitive (surely tampering with the genes of wheat is dangerous). Our 'naive beliefs'—those beliefs that make intuitive sense—always feel preferable to us, even if we’re sufficiently educated to know they're wrong.
2. Our beliefs are more strongly motivated by emotion than the by scientific method's rational argument. The strongest emotions arise from social, political, and religious affiliations.
3. We tend to use knowledge to reinforce, not correct, those beliefs that are motivated by our broader worldview. Possession of more knowledge therefore leads to stronger beliefs, but not necessarily truer ones.
4. The news media fortify public distrust of the scientific consensus by giving the impression that big scientific advances happen when lone mavericks make shocking discoveries.
5. The internet and cable TV allow us to confirm our beliefs by choosing the sources of information we listen to or filter out. Back when elite universities, encyclopedias and major news organisations were the gatekeepers of scientific information, this was not possible to the same extent.

Is it possible that there is a vast conspiracy over issues like climate change or evolution?

• No. Scientists love debunking each other too much for a conspiracy of that scale to be possible.

Does this matter, given that so few people mistrust the scientific consensus?

• Yes. Parents not vaccinating their children strains herd immunity. US legislation for reducing emissions has been stalled by a noisy minority.

How can we convince people?

• We can use people’s emotional motivations for their good. Skeptics can be convinced by people they trust and with whom they share fundamental values. E.g. if a conservative republican denies climate change, the most likely person to convince them of it is another conservative republican.
• People need to be educated in the scientific method, and not just scientific facts. First, the objectivity of the scientific method will help people to value truth above emotion. Second, understanding something of statistics, fair tests, peer review, repeatability of experiments and so on will help people to make better judgements.
• Scientists should avoid involving themselves in policy battles, because that undermines the public’s view of their objectivity. Unless scientists stick to talking about science, it's easy for skeptics to allege that the scientists' research—about, say, climate change—is colored by a political agenda, and so untrustworthy.