Perceptual, attentional, and cognitive heuristics that interact with the nature of science to complicate public understanding of science

Abstract

Increasingly science is conducted in the public eye and research findings are made available to the public as they are being discovered-affording the opportunity to more quickly take advantage of new findings in our everyday lives. However, along with this opportunity come significant challenges and potential costs. A substantial body of research reveals patterns of perception, attention, and reasoning that interact with how we interpret and attach salience to research findings, and that work against public attention and understanding. Further, the epistemology of science-how scientific knowledge is vetted over time and through the discourse of many different scientists-makes it problematic to take the public along for the ride. This chapter considers a set of perceptual and attentional patterns, cognitive heuristics for causal reasoning, and assumptions about the nature of science that interact with people's understanding of research findings. It argues that advancing a scientific research agenda increasingly calls for knowledge of how the public is inclined to interact with research findings and with the nature of science more generally.