When Science Doesn鈥檛 Matter
John Hagan will be the 2018 Sustainability and Water Conference Keynote Speaker
Why does society make such painfully slow progress on issues that have such huge consequences, like climate change?聽The science is overwhelming.聽But until most of society participates, problems this big won鈥檛 be solved.
Conservatives, liberals, North, South, urban, rural, religious, areligious, etc., will all need to participate.聽Engaging such diverse segments of society is a huge challenge in an era of extreme polarization.聽But it can be done, if scientists use their empathic聽right聽brains in addition to their linear-thinking聽left听产谤补颈苍蝉.
So says ecologist John Hagan, president of聽, a non-profit based in Brunswick, 海角社区 and Manomet, Massachusetts. Hagan will be the keynote speaker at the 2018 海角社区 Sustainability and Water Conference on Thursday, March 29 at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, 海角社区. His talk is titled 鈥淭he Science of When Science Doesn鈥檛 Matter (and what to do about it).鈥
Hagan鈥檚 work has focused on building relationships with non-scientists who are in a strong position to put science to use鈥攆oresters, fishermen, business owners, and even institutional investors.
To wit, Hagan鈥檚 mantra is, 鈥淚f you want science used, lead with the relationship, follow with the science.鈥
Hagan鈥檚 keynote will discuss a matter at the heart of science鈥攖he human heart, and, among other things, will detail how scientific facts do not move people, especially on hot button issues such as climate change, genetically modified foods and vaccinations.
On climate change, for example, despite an ever-growing body of scientific evidence supporting the fact that human activity leads to global warming, the issue remains as polarizing as ever.
鈥淚f you want science used, lead with the relationship, follow with the science.鈥 鈥擩ohn Hagan
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 really evolve to be correct or right, we evolved to win,鈥 says Hagan, 鈥淭he facts really don鈥檛 matter. We just want to win. If you ever watch political debates, it鈥檚 not about facts. It鈥檚 about who鈥檚 the most persuasive.鈥 But ultimately, Hagan says, facts have a way of catching up with you.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all attracted to information that reinforces what we already believe to be true, and we tend to avoid information that disagrees with our values or threatens something that鈥檚 important to us,鈥 Hagan says.
A powerful example of this, Hagan notes, is a study by the Pew Research Center and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A survey compared responses from members of the public to those of scientists.
The results were consistently lopsided. One of the biggest disparities: the survey found that though 88 percent of scientists polled said they believe genetically modified foods are safe to consume while only 37 percent of public respondents felt the same. On the question of whether climate change is due to human activities, 87 percent of scientists accepted the statement as true while members of the public came in at 50 percent. In other words, half of those surveyed do not believe fossil fuels, aerosols, deforestation, and other causes generally accepted by scientists, are responsible for global warming.
And lest scientists be exempt from the pull of emotion in the face of research findings, Hagan doesn鈥檛 let them off the hook. Belief in a certain set of facts or conclusions can cloud anyone鈥檚 judgment.
鈥淭he deeper we care about something emotionally, the less able we are to take in new, novel information. We all do it, even those of us who are trained in the sciences. We think we don鈥檛 do it but we really do, and we usually don鈥檛 realize when we鈥檙e doing it,鈥 Hagan says.
Our emotions are often a blind spot. We may think we are basing conclusions on a set of solid, incontrovertible facts, but, chances are, we鈥檝e selected findings that satiate our hearts rather than our minds.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of emotion involved even though we might not feel a lot of emotion,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he values driving what we think and how we feel about particular issues is often emotionally based.鈥
Hagan says it鈥檚 common to assume that better education is the key to a broader worldview. But that assumption is dead wrong. A 2012 study in the journal Nature Climate Change found that people with greater scientific literacy perceived less climate change risk than those with less scientific exposure. In fact, Hagan says, those with scientific literacy are experts at cherry-picking facts that match their values.
Our modern-day ability to join social networks of like-minded people can actually further isolate us from diverse ideas and viewpoints. 鈥淲hen we come together in groups of like-minded people, we tend to get isolated, more polarized. Studies show that when we鈥檙e in groups we can actually take on more extreme views,鈥 Hagan says.
The way forward involves a lot of pulling back and listening with an open mind鈥攁ll while understanding that everyone鈥檚 viewpoint is colored by emotions, values and personal experience. A lot of the resistance comes down to fear of the unknown, according to Hagan.
Going back to Hagan鈥檚 premise鈥攊f we want to solve the big complex challenges of our time, everyone needs to participate. Why? Because we need the diversity of viewpoints and perspectives to find truly lasting solutions.鈥 And that means building relationships based on trust with people who think differently from you,鈥 he says.