Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The More "Scientifically Literate," the Less Likely to be Concerned About Climate Change

But wait! Weren't we hearing the opposite?

However, that is the conclusion presented in the abstract of the Yale University study "The Tragedy of the Risk-Perception Commons: Culture Conflict, Rationality Conflict, and Climate Change"

"The conventional explanation for controversy over climate change emphasizes impediments to public understanding: Limited popular knowledge of science, the inability of ordinary citizens to assess technical information, and the resulting widespread use of unreliable cognitive heuristics to assess risk. A large survey of U.S. adults (N = 1540) found little support for this account. On the whole, the most scientifically literate and numerate subjects were slightly less likely, not more, to see climate change as a serious threat than the least scientifically literate and numerate ones."

H/t & more at "The Volokh Conspiracy" legal blog.

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