Motivated numeracy and enlightened self-government

• Published in: Behavioural Public Policy Vol. 1; no. 1; pp. 54 - 86
• Main Authors: KAHAN, DAN M., PETERS, ELLEN, DAWSON, ERICA CANTRELL, SLOVIC, PAUL
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.05.2017
• Subjects: Climate change; Cognition & reasoning; Information processing; Politics; Science; United States > US

Why does public conflict over societal risks persist in the face of compelling and widely accessible scientific evidence? We conducted an experiment to probe two alternative answers: the ‘science comprehension thesis’ (SCT), which identifies defects in the public's knowledge and reasoning capac...