Science communication

Just a note I found interesting from Dan Kahan of Yale. The links are to the Cultural Cognition Project, which we have used in class for several years now:

...the same research that supports the conclusion that “fact bombardment” doesn’t work is filled with findings of alternatives that work better in promoting constructive open-minded engagement with scientific information. By adroitly combining valid information with culturally affirming meanings, these communications succeed in getting people to reflectively assess evidence that they might otherwise dismiss out of hand (btw, if your goal is not simply to get people to open-mindedly consider evidence using their own powers of reason — if you just want to make them believe something, who cares how– you are not a science communicator; you are a propagandist).