Bias Overcomes Scientific Consensus
“People’s willingness to believe or discount scientists depends mostly on ideology, or what a new study’s authors call ‘cultural cognition’.” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“After surveying 1,500 people, the researchers found that those who were ‘egalitarian and resentful of economic inequality’ were more likely to assume that there was scientific consensus that human activity is contributing to climate change, but not that it’s safe to dispose of nuclear waste underground. Those who were more ‘hierarchical, individualistic and connected to industry and commerce’ were more likely to make the opposite assumptions. According to reports from the National Academy of Sciences, human activity is contributing to climate change and nuclear waste can be buried safely in certain designated sites.”
