A number of psychological challenges hinder the countering of misinformation and science denial. Polarization on issues such as climate change and COVID-19 results in some segments of the population being more resistant to refutation strategies. Inoculation theory offers a solution to polarization, with experimental studies finding that inoculating messages neutralize the polarizing influence of misinformation on issues like climate change. Inoculation theory applies the idea of vaccination to knowledge—we build immunity to misinformation by exposing people to a weakened form of misinformation. Gamification offers a unique opportunity, by incorporating interactive inoculating exercises into a game, players are incentivized to repeatedly practice misinformation detection tasks, thus converting effortful critical thinking tasks into quicker, easier heuristics. In this presentation, John Cook will outline how he applied psychological and critical thinking research into inoculation, using gamification and cartoons to overcome some of the psychological hurdles facing scientists and educators as they respond to misinformation.
John Cook is a researcher at the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub at Monash University. His research focus is understanding and countering misinformation about climate change, with an emphasis on using critical thinking to build resilience. He founded Skeptical Science, authored the book Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change, and developed the smartphone game Cranky Uncle, combining climate science, critical thinking, and cartoons to explain and counter climate misinformation. He also co-authored the college textbooks Climate Change: Examining the Facts and Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis and the book Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand.
This talk took place on April 1, 2021, at 7:00 pm EDT.