It’s a seemingly whimsical exercise, but it serves serious purposes.
- Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
When people are pervasively disinformed, the very foundations of democracy can end up on shaky ground.
As elections approach – and even after they’re done – there’s a lot of confusing, and deliberately misleading, information out there. Learn how to protect yourself.
El video ‘Plandemic’, que incluye falsedades y desinformaciones sobre el coronavirus, es un ejemplo de cómo funcionan las teorías conspirativas.
Conspiracy theories about COVID-19, such as those advanced in the video ‘Plandemic,’ tend to pull from the same playbook. Recognizing that can help keep you from falling for this kind of thinking.
Conspiracy theories and misinformation about coronavirus damage society in a number of ways.
Reports of facts’ death have been greatly exaggerated. Effective communication jettisons the false dilemma in favor of a more holistic view of how people take in new information on contentious topics.
Does science have an answer to science denial? Just as being vaccinated protects you from a later full-blown infection, a bit of misinformation explained could help ward off other cases down the road.
Laser-like focus on a tiny, unimportant detail can mean you miss the gorilla in the room – a tactic climate change deniers use to cast doubt on the science.
One of Donald Trump’s senior advisers has recommended cutting NASA climate research because the science has become “heavily politicised”. The question is: by whom?
Contrary to the claims of One Nation Senator-elect Malcolm Roberts’ that climate change is not happening, there is abundant evidence it is, but it might not be enough to persuade him.
Latest revelations about Peabody’s funding of groups linked to climate denial are the tip of the iceberg.
Ten years have passed since Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth hit the US box office. Has the film been successful in increasing awareness and action on climate change?
Research showing that more than 90% of climate scientists agree that we’re causing global warming prompted plenty of questions. And the authors are only too happy to answer.
A new study confirms that 97% of publishing climate scientists believe humans are causing global warming.
Donald Trump has been known to spread misinformation. This gives us a great opportunity to hone our critical thinking skills.
No matter how much evidence scientists present in support of climate change there are those who refuse to believe it. They think it’s all part of the consprarcy theory.
Research shows how the the tobacco and fossil fuel industries used different tactics to undermine scientific consensus.
Debunking science denial in the wrong way can end up reinforcing it. Here’s how to cut through make the facts stick.
Maurice Newman’s implication that discrepancies resulting from the recent climate fluctuation somehow invalidates climate models is incorrect.
A small dose of a weak form of anti-science can inoculate people against the real thing, just like a vaccine.
When you ask Australians what proportion of climate scientists agree on the reality of human-caused global warming, the average answer is around 58%, despite evidence that the true size of the consensus…
Global warming is increasing the risk of heatwaves. This isn’t a hypothetical abstraction that our grandchildren may experience in the distant future. Heatwaves are currently getting hotter, they’re lasting…
What’s the best way to reduce the roughly half a million annual deaths from smoking in the US alone? Nearly half a million lives cut short, often with untold suffering, by a commercial product that has…
Debunking myths requires an understanding of the psychological research into misinformation. But getting your refutation out in front of lots of eyeballs is a whole other matter. Here, I look at two contrasting…
Contact John for
- General
- Media request
- Speaking request
- Consulting / Advising
- Research collaboration
- Research supervision
