Teaching People The Value Of Scientific Consensus Can Help To Correct False Beliefs

By Emma Young How do we change beliefs that are contrary to the scientific consensus? Given that such misperceptions can be harmful to the believers, their families, and even to broader society, research in this area is vital. Now Aart van Stekelenburg at Radboud University and colleagues report preliminary but promising work finding that a brief training exercise on the value of scientific consensus, and how to look for it, can help. Their paper in Psychological Science suggests that this could be a more effective approach than just communicating what the scientific consensus is — at least, for some false beliefs. For one of their studies, the team recruited 854 US-based participants who all believed that genetically engineered food is worse for our health than non-GM food. Some participants were given an infographic that explained how a scientific consensus develops and why it’s very useful in deciding whether or not a new claim is likely to be true. It also provided a three-step guide to evaluating a new claim (as might be found in a news article, say): Look for a statement indicating consensusCheck the source making the consensus statementEvaluate the expertise of the consensus The training also included a short practice session, with feedback on how to apply these steps. These participants, plus another group who were not given this three-step guide, read a 2017 news article from Science about a new fungus-resistant, genetically engineered banana....
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Decision making Media Source Type: blogs