{"id":3390,"date":"2015-07-21T10:07:47","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T15:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=3390"},"modified":"2015-07-31T11:21:23","modified_gmt":"2015-07-31T16:21:23","slug":"studies-link-rejection-of-established-climate-science-with-conspiracist-ideation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2015\/07\/21\/studies-link-rejection-of-established-climate-science-with-conspiracist-ideation\/","title":{"rendered":"Studies Link Rejection of Established Climate Science with Conspiracist Ideation"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A new psychology study has strongly linked rejection of the scientific consensus on climate change<\/a> to conspiratorial thinking.\u00a0 The study, led by Dr. Stephan Lewandowsky, builds on his previous research connecting a general belief in conspiracy theories with denial of established findings on climate change \u2013 research that has been, perhaps not surprisingly, itself accused of being the product of a conspiracy.<\/p>\n

In Dr.\u00a0Lewandowsky’s most recent study, Recurrent Fury: Conspiratorial Discourse in the Blogosphere Triggered by Research on the Role of Conspiracist Ideation in Climate Denial<\/em><\/a>, study participants were given unidentified comments from “climate \u2018skeptic\u2019 blogs”\u00a0along with scientific critiques from PhD students, and the participants were then asked to grade the excerpts for aspects of conspiratorial thinking.\u00a0 The participants identified, to an extreme degree, the PhD students\u2019 comments as objective scientific critiques, and the blog comments as conspiracist ideation,[1]<\/a>\u00a0which Dr. Lewandowsky defines as \u201ca person\u2019s propensity to explain a significant political or social event as a secret plot by powerful individuals or organizations.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Specifically, study participants reviewed comments reacting to a 2013 Lewandowsky paper titled NASA Faked the Moon Landing \u2013 Therefore (Climate) Science is a Hoax: An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 This initial study had conducted online surveys and found that endorsement of several conspiracy theories (theories such as NASA faked the moon landing, or that the CIA killed Martin Luther King, Jr.) was strongly correlated with rejecting established climate science as well as rejecting other established scientific findings.<\/p>\n

The NASA Faked the Moon Landing<\/em> paper was met with a strong reaction, much of it negative.\u00a0 The authors received hate mail, were subjected to onerous open records requests<\/a> seeking fodder for accusations of impropriety (which were unsubstantiated), and were targeted by a \u201csock puppet\u201d email scam looking for embarrassing material.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 There were also numerous accusations that the study\u2019s authors were fanatics out to make self-described \u201cclimate skeptics\u201d look bad,[4]<\/a> and an online YouTube video comparing Dr. Lewandowsky with Hitler received thousands of views.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Lewandowsky and his cohorts were then galvanized to look more deeply into online comments discussing this initial paper, which resulted in another study later in 2013, Recursive Fury:\u00a0 Conspiracist Ideation in the Blogosphere in Response to Research on Conspiracist Ideation<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0The Recursive Fury<\/em> paper found that the blog comments exhibited high levels of conspiratorial content and counterfactual thinking \u2013 but \u201cnobody likes being called a conspiracy theorist, and thus climate contrarians really didn\u2019t appreciate Recursive Fury<\/em>.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 The study was accused of being defamatory and the journal that published it, Frontiers in Psychology<\/em>, made the shocking decision to issue a retraction because even though it had no \u201cissues with the academic and ethical aspects of the study. . . the legal context is insufficiently clear.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 (Dr. Lewandowsky\u2019s institution, the University of Western Australia, also faced \u201ca barrage of complaints,\u201d although the university vocally supported the researchers.[8]<\/a>) \u00a0The journal was widely criticized for \u201ctoss[ing] authors under a bus,\u201d[9]<\/a> and the incident led to several resignations at Frontiers in\u00a0<\/em>Psychology<\/i>\u00a0and related journals.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

With this backdrop, the just-published\u00a0Recurrent Fury<\/em>\u00a0study concludes there is a \u201cgrowing body of evidence [that] has implicated conspiracist ideation in the rejection of scientific propositions.\u201d\u00a0 Recurrent Fury <\/em>notes there is also a \u201cneed to educate the public about the difference between scientific and non-scientific forms of discourse. . . . [A]cademic discourse, however critical, does not involve the attempt to silence inconvenient voices, which has become an increasingly clearly stated goal of elements of the climate \u2018skeptic\u2019 blogosphere.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lauren Kurtz is the Executive Director of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, which seeks to protect the scientific endeavor. \u00a0For more information, please visit www.climatesciencedefensefund.org<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/view\/539286\/conspiracists-concur-climate-change-is-a-colossal-cover-up\/<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/jspp.psychopen.eu\/article\/view\/443\/html<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> https:\/\/www.psychologicalscience.org\/index.php\/publications\/observer\/2013\/november-13\/the-subterranean-war-on-science.html<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/climate-consensus-97-per-cent\/2015\/jul\/08\/climate-denial-linked-to-conspiratorial-thinking-in-new-study<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> https:\/\/jspp.psychopen.eu\/article\/view\/443\/html<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/climate-consensus-97-per-cent\/2014\/mar\/21\/contrarians-bully-climate-change-journal-retraction<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> https:\/\/journal.frontiersin.org\/article\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2014.00293\/full<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> https:\/\/www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org\/rf1.html<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> https:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/gregladen\/2014\/04\/06\/a-conspiracy-and-dunces-journal-frontiers-tosses-authors-under-bus\/<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> https:\/\/cassandralegacy.blogspot.com\/2014\/04\/climate-of-intimidation-frontiers.html<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> https:\/\/jspp.psychopen.eu\/article\/view\/443\/html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new psychology study has strongly linked rejection of the scientific consensus on climate change to conspiratorial thinking.\u00a0 The study, led by Dr. Stephan Lewandowsky, builds on his previous research connecting a general belief in conspiracy theories with denial of established findings on climate change \u2013 research that has been, perhaps not surprisingly, itself accused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1475,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5673],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-litigation","7":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"\nStudies Link Rejection of Established Climate Science with Conspiracist Ideation - Climate Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2015\/07\/21\/studies-link-rejection-of-established-climate-science-with-conspiracist-ideation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Studies Link Rejection of Established Climate Science with Conspiracist Ideation - 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