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Science Denial: Why It Happens and What To Do About It
Interest Group: Non-Fiction Books
Hosted by:
Peter Lamell
Dianne Jacobs
May 10, 2022 @ 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm
FreeThis book group discussion will help us explore both the importance of science education and its limitations, how science communicators may inadvertently contribute to the problem, and examine how the internet and social media foster misinformation and disinformation.
How do individuals decide whether to accept human causes of climate change, vaccinate their children against childhood diseases, or practice social distancing during a pandemic?
Democracies depend on educated citizens who can make informed decisions for the benefit of their health and well-being, as well as their communities, nations, and planet. Understanding key psychological explanations for science denial and doubt can help provide a means for improving scientific literacy and understanding―critically important at a time when denial has become deadly.
In Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It (OUP October 2021) the authors, Gale Sinatra and Barbara Hofer, identify the problem and why it matters and offer tools for addressing it.
The authors focus on key psychological constructs such as reasoning biases, social identity, epistemic cognition, and emotions and attitudes that limit or facilitate public understanding of science, and describe solutions for individuals, educators, science communicators, and policy makers.
If you have ever wondered why science denial exists, want to know how to understand your own biases and those of others, and would like to address the problem, this book will provide the insights you are seeking.
Gale M. Sinatra is the Stephen H. Crocker Professor of Education and Psychology at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, where she directs the Motivated Change Research Lab.
Barbara K. Hofer is a Professor of Psychology Emerita at Middlebury College and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
Read the book, come with an open mind, hear differing perspectives in this intimate, digital format and uncover what your fellow readers think.
Other books this interest group is discussing:
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