As the spectre of ‘post-truth’ looms over society, an important question remains: how to effectively respond to the growing climate of science denial? New research shows that leaving denial unanswered can have negative consequences. Fortunately, countering science deniers can reduce their influence, even among those most likely to hold anti-scientific beliefs.
References
Druckman, J. N. Nat. Hum. Behav. 1, 615–617 (2017).
Measles cases and outbreaks. CDC.gov https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019).
Nature 467, 133 (2010).
Schmid, P. & Betsch, C. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0632-4 (2019).
Nyhan, B., Reifler, J., Richey, S. & Freed, G. L. Pediatrics 133, e835–e842 (2014).
Wood, T. & Porter, E. Polit. Behav. 41, 135–163 (2019).
van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A. & Maibach, E. Nat. Hum. Behav. 2, 2–3 (2018).
Druckman, J. & McGrath, M. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9, 111–119 10 (2019).
Roozenbeek, J. & van der Linden, S. J. Risk Res. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2018.1443491 (2018).
van der Linden, S., Maibach, E., Cook, J., Leiserowitz, A. & Lewandowsky, S. Science 358, 1141–1142 (2017).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing Interests
The author declares no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van der Linden, S. Countering science denial. Nat Hum Behav 3, 889–890 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0631-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0631-5
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Loneliness trajectories over three decades are associated with conspiracist worldviews in midlife
Nature Communications (2024)
-
When It Strikes, Are We Ready? Lessons Identified at the 7th Planetary Defense Conference in Preparing for a Near-Earth Object Impact Scenario
International Journal of Disaster Risk Science (2022)