Inside the mind of a sceptic: the ‘mental gymnastics’ of climate change denial

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 12:59:59 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/inside-the-mind-of-a-sceptic-the-mental-gymnastics-of-climate-change-denial-189645>

"The numbers of climate sceptics are dwindling. But they remain a noisy and at
times powerful minority that continues to have political influence. This group
is unmoved by the near-universal agreement among scientists on the reality and
impact of climate change.

Past research into climate change scepticism has focused on sociodemographics.
It has found people are more likely to express scepticism if they are older,
male, highly value individualistic beliefs and don’t value the environment.

These characteristics are generally entrenched. It means this information,
while interesting, may be of little use when trying to increase public support
for climate action.

Our latest study of Australian sceptics focused on potentially more malleable
factors – including the thought processes of people who reject climate science
messaging. Our findings suggest some people reject consensus science and
generate other explanations due to mistrust in climate science and uncritical
faith in “alternative science”.

We hope these findings help researchers, scientists and those responsible for
public messaging to understand and overcome sceptics’ concerns."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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