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2011-07-05 10:47:37 | “A Little Knowledge”: Why The Biggest Problem With Climate “Skeptics” May Be Their Confidence -- DeSmog Blog | |
John Hartz John Hartz john.hartz@hotmail... 98.122.98.161 |
“A Little Knowledge”: Why The Biggest Problem With Climate “Skeptics” May Be Their Confidence Yet another excellent article by Chris Mooney. | |
2011-07-05 13:54:54 | ||
nealjking nealjking@gmail... 84.151.50.14 |
Actually, I think this is a terrible article. He's trying to sell the story that "smart conservatives are more against the AGW concept than dumb conservatives", because "they know a little more." This is a really really hard story to sell, and the comments show that the readers aren't buying it. If it were me, I would have waited until I'd dreamed up a better angle. This is an article that should not have been published. | |
2011-07-05 15:47:53 | ||
Rob Painting Rob paintingskeri@vodafone.co... 118.92.127.55 |
Yeah, crap article. What the hell was he (Mooney) thinking? | |
2011-07-05 20:19:30 | ||
Paul D chillcast@googlemail... 82.18.130.183 |
Haven't read the whole article yet, but... I think the problem isn't just climate science. Individuals have different capacities to absorb information. | |
2011-07-05 20:59:15 | This is a crucial lesson for climate communicators | |
John Cook john@skepticalscience... 121.222.9.229 |
Regardless of how Mooney should've "sold" the story, there is a very important lesson here that is crucial for climate communicators (aka us) to understand. Amongst conservatives, the more knowledgeable they are about climate, the MORE likely they are to be skeptical. There is a common assumption among science communicators that more knowledge and info will lead to more acceptance of AGW. This research casts doubt on that assumption. Values systems are a vital piece of the puzzle.
How does this affect SkS? Our goal is education, promoting more knowledge. It's rebutting misinformation with information. But research indicates more information doesn't work with many conservatives. Even worse, more information may drive conservatives to greater skepticism. Just to make things even more complicated, other research indicates debunking misinformation can reinforce it in people's minds. This is called the backfire effect and has nothing to do with politics or values - it's just a basic psychological reaction. I'll be discussing this research on the Communicating Science forum as soon as I'm done with the "Make it Stick" book. These are all things we need to be aware of as we go forward and think of our goals and methods. | |
2011-07-05 21:01:45 | ||
Riccardo riccardoreitano@tiscali... 192.84.150.209 |
Oh well, and what about the microscopic world, where we give wave functions instead of positions? | |
2011-07-05 21:14:40 | ||
nealjking nealjking@gmail... 84.151.50.14 |
Riccardo, The point of Rutherford's assertion about explaining to a barmaid is that if you can't step back and find a simple way of getting at the essential point, you're getting caught up in details. With respect to the saturated-absorption claim: I would point out that this conceptualization depends on thinking of photons as bullets, that stop when they hit a tree or shrub, and never start again. But IR photons are more like bees, that go from flower to flower. | |
2011-07-05 21:45:08 | ||
Paul D chillcast@googlemail... 82.18.130.183 |
Actually last night on BBC2 TV channel it was the final episode of 'James Mays Things You Need To Know' which was about Weather. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012793q James May is one of the presenters on Top Gear, that well known programme dedicated to petrol heads. Having said that James has presented some good programmes other than Top Gear. The thought I had at the end is why didn't they do one on climate change?? | |
2011-07-05 21:52:55 | ||
Rob Painting Rob paintingskeri@vodafone.co... 118.92.123.225 |
I'm more inclined to agree with Nealstradamus, the basics haven't been communicated well enough. Rebutting scientific gobbledegook with more scientific gobbledegook isn't going to convince anyone. It's a trap that many of the blog commenters fall into when confronting the "skeptics". Riccardo, winning in the media for "skeptics" is easy, all they have to do is create doubt. And they have the easy sell- doing diddlysquat. We, on the other hand, have to convince the public that massive change is necessary. I reckon even without the evil corporate bastards, and the disinformation campaign, it would have been a signifcant battle anyway. | |
2011-07-05 23:06:57 | ||
nealjking nealjking@gmail... 84.151.50.14 |
Rob, Yes, there is an asymmetry in the difficulty of the job: It is always easier to discredit a logical argument than to build one. To discredit it, all you have to do is to create doubt about ONE factor; but to build it, you have to create confidence about ALL factors. | |
2011-07-05 23:41:43 | Correction | |
John Hartz John Hartz john.hartz@hotmail... 98.122.98.161 |
Yet another excellent provocative article by Chris Mooney. |