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…
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Even with a double major in link this for Economics page economics and link this for America studies page American studies , senior Madeline Hertz figures she’ll one day be among the nearly 57…
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A cross-disciplinary team of scientists, led by University of Massachusetts Amherst environmental epigeneticist Richard Pilsner, will use a three-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institute…
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After the announcement of UMass Amherst Libraries’ acquisition of his historic personal papers, whistleblower and activist Daniel Ellsberg has completed a series of visits, lectures and…
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The new Carney Family Auditorium in Furcolo Hall at UMass Amherst's College of Education was officially unveiled to the public in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday. Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and…
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Yuriy Brun and Charles C. Weems Jr., both associate professors in the College of Information and Computer Sciences, have been selected as 2019 Distinguished Members of the Association for Computing…
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AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientist Matthew Moore has received two grants from the USDA to apply new technology in an effort to more quickly detect and trace foodborne…
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Chahine-Iman Iman Chahine , an associate professor of Education landing page education , has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to pursue ethno-mathematical research in South Africa for nine…
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According to the latest bar exam results released today by Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners, the UMass Dartmouth-based UMass School of Law outscored the statewide average for the second year in a…, UMass President Marty Meehan, . “The success of recent UMass Law graduates is further evidence that accessibility to public higher education is transformational for students and critical to the Commonwealth.” “Once again, our…, UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert E. Johnson, said. “At UMass Law, we are creating high quality and affordable opportunities for people to enter the legal profession with a goal to pursue justice and serve the community. And, we are just…, UMass Law Dean Eric Mitnick, said. “Of course, this kind of sustained success does not happen without support from talented and committed staff and faculty, and in my view we have the very best here at UMass Law.”, More about UMass Law:, UMass Law was established in 2010 and earned full ABA accreditation in 2016. Applications in 2019 increased 20.7% (top 8 of 202 law schools in country); 45.1% increase since 2017; and the 2019…, Recent awards and recognitions include:, PreLaw Magazine ranked UMass Law among top schools in country for practical training (2019) Black Students’ Guide to Law Schools ranked UMass Law top 5 in eastern region for black students (2019)…
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Two young children with Tay-Sachs disease were treated safely at UMass Memorial Medical Center with a gene therapy developed at UMass Medical School and, in one case, the child's condition has…
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