Thread by @ReformedTrader

1/ Polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks (Kahan et al.)

"Those with the most science literacy & reasoning capacity were not most concerned about climate change; they were the group w/ the most polarization."

nature.com/articles/nclim…

2/ Sample of 1540 U.S. citizens

"We instructed subjects to rate the seriousness of climate change risk."

SCT = Science Comprehension Thesis: "Members of the public do not know/think as scientists; they fail to take climate change as seriously as scientists believe they should."

3/ CCT = Cultural Cognition Thesis: "Individuals tend to form perceptions of societal risks that cohere with values characteristic of groups with which they identify. Members are motivated to fit their interpretations of scientific evidence to competing cultural philosophies."

4/ "As respondents' science-literacy scores increased, concern w/ climate change decreased (p=0.05). There was also a negative correlation between numeracy & climate risk (p<0.01).

"Differences were small but inconsistent with SCT, which predicts effects w/ the opposite signs."

5/ "Our data, consistent with previous studies, supported CCT's prediction.

"Hierarchical individualists (subjects scoring in the top half on both the Hierarchy & Individualism worldview scales) rated climate change risks significantly lower than did egalitarian communitarians.

6/ "Even controlling for scientific literacy and numeracy, both Hierarchy (p<0.01) and Individualism (p<0.01) predicted less concern over climate change."

7/ "These findings were consistent with previous ones showing that climate change has become highly politicized. Worldview & political orientation are modestly correlated. Nevertheless, the impact of worldview on climate change risk perceptions cannot be reduced to partisanship."

8/ "The difference in respective perceptions of climate change risk significantly exceeded what political-orientation measures alone would predict for individuals who identify themselves as conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats."

9/ "Polarization becomes larger as science literacy & numeracy increase.

"As the contribution that culture makes to disagreement grows as literacy & numeracy increase, it is not plausible to view cultural cognition as a substitute for capacities SCT views the public as lacking."

10/ "To test the generality of this conclusion, we also analyzed subjects' perceptions of nuclear-power risks. Egalitarian communitarians and hierarchical individualists were again polarized. Here, too, the gap between became larger as scientific literacy and numeracy increased."

11/ "If beliefs about a societal risk come to bear meanings congenial to some cultural outlooks but hostile to others, individuals will fail to converge, or at least fail to converge as rapidly as they should, on scientific information essential to their common interests.

12/ "Simply improving clarity of scientific information will not dispel conflict so long as debate features cultural meanings that divide citizens of opposing worldviews.

"Communicators should endeavor to create a deliberative climate that does not threaten any group's values."

13/ Related reading

Supplementary Information for this paper
static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1…

Is Newspaper Coverage of Economic Events Politically Biased?


Media Slant is Contagious


Expert Political Judgment