Moral conviction: A challenge in the age of science politicization

Moral Convictions and Threats to Science

“…If people hold moral convictions, communicating “just the facts” alone may not be enough to divest them of incorrect factual beliefs and may even undermine their evaluations of scientists and of science as a process. Preliminary data show that moral conviction is indeed high on many policy issues that invoke science, such as increasing investment into developing gene editing techniques and expanding nuclear power (Bayes 2022). Levels of conviction may only grow as more moral rhetoric is used around science and moral framing becomes a prominent communication strategy for advocates, given increasing evidence that it is effective for persuasion (see Voelkel et al, this volume).…”

“…However, no comprehensive examination of these parallels has occurred to date. In this article, I integrate two major but disparate literatures—on moral convictions and on biased assimilation of scientific information—into a single research agenda (see also Bayes 2022). This article draws on well-developed evidence about moral convictions across legal and political domains and seeks to translate it into the science domain.…”

Способи Популяризації Науки В Цифровому Просторі

“…Recent time mediatization has been a significant trend in current media research, focusing on the study of mutually conditioned changes in the media sphere, society, and culture. We are discussing not about the "effects" of mass communication but about the multidimensional structural change in social reality due to media inclusion in its functioning and the creation of new conditions for social communication (Bayes, 2022).…”