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Enhancing endorsement of scientific inquiry increases support for pro-environment policies
Citation
Drummond, A and Palmer, MA and Sauer, JD, Enhancing endorsement of scientific inquiry increases support for pro-environment policies, Royal Society Open Science, 3, (9) pp. 1-11. ISSN 2054-5703 (2016) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2016 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Pro-environment policies require public support and engagement, but in countries such as the USA, public support for pro-environment policies remains low. Increasing public scientific literacy is unlikely to solve this, because increased scientific literacy does not guarantee increased acceptance of critical environmental issues (e.g. that climate change is occurring). We distinguish between scientific literacy (basic scientific knowledge) and endorsement of scientific inquiry (perceiving science as a valuable way of accumulating knowledge), and examine the relationship between people’s endorsement of scientific inquiry and their support for pro-environment policy. Analysis of a large, publicly available dataset shows that support for pro-environment policies is more strongly related to endorsement of scientific inquiry than to scientific literacy among adolescents. An experiment demonstrates that a brief intervention can increase support for pro-environment policies via increased endorsement of scientific inquiry among adults. Public education about the merits of scientific inquiry may facilitate increased support for pro-environment policies.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | climate change, policy making, science communication, scientific literacy |
| Research Division: | Psychology |
| Research Group: | Cognitive and computational psychology |
| Research Field: | Decision making |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in psychology |
| UTAS Author: | Palmer, MA (Dr Matt Palmer) |
| UTAS Author: | Sauer, JD (Dr Jim Sauer) |
| ID Code: | 111838 |
| Year Published: | 2016 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (DP140103746) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 2 |
| Deposited By: | Psychology |
| Deposited On: | 2016-10-11 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-03-22 |
| Downloads: | 80 View Download Statistics |
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