- Oct 17, 2011
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We recently conducted two large-scale surveys that explored the [idea] that some intrinsic attributes of science are in tension with aspects of conservative thinking.
We focused on three scientific issues; climate change, vaccinations, and the heritability of intelligence. The first two were chosen because of their known tendency to be rejected by people on the political right, allowing us to observe the potential moderating role of other predictors.
The latter was chosen because the belief that external forces such as education can improve people and their circumstances is a focus of liberalism.
the overall findings were quite clear. Conservatives were less likely to accept the norms of science, suggesting that the worldviews of some people on the political right may be in intrinsic conflict with the scientific enterprise.
Those people who accepted the norms of science were also more likely to endorse vaccinations and support the need to fight climate change.
Finally, we found no strong evidence that people on the political left are more likely to reject the genetic contribution to individual variation in intelligence. This negative result adds to the evidence that science denial is harder to find on the left, even concerning issues where basic aspects of liberal thought – in this case the belief that people can be improved – are in potential conflict with the evidence.
We recently conducted two large-scale surveys that explored the [idea] that some intrinsic attributes of science are in tension with aspects of conservative thinking.
We focused on three scientific issues; climate change, vaccinations, and the heritability of intelligence. The first two were chosen because of their known tendency to be rejected by people on the political right, allowing us to observe the potential moderating role of other predictors.
The latter was chosen because the belief that external forces such as education can improve people and their circumstances is a focus of liberalism.
the overall findings were quite clear. Conservatives were less likely to accept the norms of science, suggesting that the worldviews of some people on the political right may be in intrinsic conflict with the scientific enterprise.
Those people who accepted the norms of science were also more likely to endorse vaccinations and support the need to fight climate change.
Finally, we found no strong evidence that people on the political left are more likely to reject the genetic contribution to individual variation in intelligence. This negative result adds to the evidence that science denial is harder to find on the left, even concerning issues where basic aspects of liberal thought – in this case the belief that people can be improved – are in potential conflict with the evidence.
