Americans are more divided than ever – not only along political lines, but on hot social topics such as the safety of childhood vaccines and whether marijuana use is harmful. More disturbing, says …, Q: Many people were surprised at the idea of “alternative facts” when White House advisor Kellyanne Conway used the phrase to support the administration’s claim that President Trump had the largest…, A:, No. There’s certainly been an increase in the rhetoric of “alternative facts” in the Trump era, but Trump didn’t create this; he rode a wave. Liberals and conservatives used to base their political…, Q: How did you study it, and what issues did you look at? , A:, We examined people’s perceptions on a wide array of topics that are socially divisive, including: Is climate change real? Is racism prevalent and influential? Does immigration help or hurt the…, Q: If we can’t even agree on a common set of verifiable facts, how can we resolve some of these pressing public issues?, A:, The results of our research are actually pretty depressing, because this is not going to be easy to solve. There’s been a massive breakdown of trust in facts promulgated by the government, the…, Q: Does education help?, A:, Unfortunately, our data show that people with a college education are even more biased than those with less education. It seems that the effect of higher education is to give people better cognitive…, Q: Your research also shows that increasingly, people don’t want to spend time with those they disagree with., A:, That’s true. We ran a number of what we call the “Bob” studies. We’d ask people, “Do you want to work on a long-term project with Bob?” Then we’d show them “Bob’s” Twitter feed, which indicated his…, Q: You write Inconvenient Facts blog at Psychology Today a column for Psychology Today to explain these concepts to a broader audience. Recently, you’ve also started writing for Morgan Marietta…, A:, Trust has to be earned, and we (academics) ought to be speaking to the public to develop that trust. But we need to speak in everyday, common language for it to have any impact. A lot of people…, Q: You’ve won a lot of teaching awards and mentored lots of students. What’s your philosophy of teaching, especially in a field that invokes such strong partisanship?, A:, I love teaching at a place where many students are first-generation college students, as I was. They’re not from elite backgrounds, so this is a place where teaching really matters – education…
Type: News