We believe experts who confirm our beliefs
(PhysOrg.com) -- Turns out that Average Joe doesn't rate the credibility of an expert based on rigor, clarity, prestige, reputation or the diplomas he or she holds, but rather on whether or not the expert says what we want to hear!
It's our values that determine the credibility that we give to experts, according to Éric Montpetit and Érick Lachapelle, professors at the Université de Montréal Department of Political Science. We judge based on our political predispositions. This highlights the limit of rationality when shaping an opinion.
Montpetit and Lachapelle adapted a study conducted by American researchers Kahan, Jenkins-Smith and Braman and surveyed 156 of their own undergraduate students to know where they stand on the political spectrum. They were then asked to evaluate the credibility of fictitious researchers.
For instance, students were presented with the description of Oliver Roberts, a professor of nuclear engineering at Berkeley and a Princeton graduate. To some, he was described as concerned about the impact of buried nuclear waste on human health and the environment. To others he was described as a defender of this safe practice. For 85 percent of students wary about nuclear waste, he was considered credible when he was also described as wary. His credibility dropped to 61 percent when he defended the practice.
Montpetit and Lachapelle also explored the local sensitivity to language. The results were shocking to say the least, says Montpetit. Separatists thought an Anglophone expert (89%) to be more credible than a Francophone expert (74%)!
Montpetit offers this possible explanation: I think Francophones may have a slight inferiority complex. Separatists who dream of a liberated society may find Quebecers to be everything but liberated. Contrarily, federalists believe we are just as competent as all other Canadians.
The researchers highlight the fact that their sample was too small to draw any solid conclusions. However, the experiment raises many questions that would be interesting to test on a larger scale.
It's important to be conscious of the importance of bias, says Montpetit. It is often implied that people face issues with a virgin mind and that they will decide based on the opinions of experts. But that is clearly false!
Provided by
University of Montreal
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
28 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
41 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
30 comments
-
Scotland passes turbine test to harness tidal power,
40 comments
-
Consumption rivalry
12 hours ago
-
Bilateral trade between all countries
May 24, 2012
-
Is the economic foundation of social media in jeopardy?
May 20, 2012
-
Psychology: Rosenthal and Hawthorne Effect
May 15, 2012
-
Is GDP and National Income the Same Thing?
May 13, 2012
-
Difference between hourly wage and real GDP per hour worked?
May 12, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Social Sciences
More news stories
Math predicts size of clot-forming cells
UC Davis mathematicians have helped biologists figure out why platelets, the cells that form blood clots, are the size and shape that they are. Because platelets are important both for healing wounds and in strokes and other ...
13 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Oldest Jewish archaeological evidence on the Iberian Peninsula
German archaeologists of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena found one of the oldest archaeological evidence so far of Jewish Culture on the Iberian Peninsula at an excavation site in the south of Portugal, ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
16 hours ago |
4.3 / 5 (4) |
12
Dinosaur with tiny arms unearthed in Argentina
Argentine experts have discovered the near-complete remains of a new species of Jurassic-era dinosaur that stood on its rear legs and had tiny arms, according to a leading paleontologist.
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 25, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
Earliest musical instruments in Europe 40,000 years ago
The first modern humans in Europe were playing musical instruments and showing artistic creativity as early as 40,000 years ago, according to new research from Oxford and Tübingen universities.
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
19 hours ago |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
Talking works: UB professor develops method to analyze creative problem solving
(Phys.org) -- Talk -- if it's the right kind -- can increase creativity, leading students to create useful, new ideas that solve problems, a University at Buffalo professor has found by using a statistical tool that he invented.
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
22 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Of mice and mental models: Neuroscientific implications of risk-optimized behavior in the mouse
(Medical Xpress) -- Regardless of an organism’s biological complexity, every encephalized animal continuously makes under-informed behavioral choices that can have serious consequences. Despite its ubiquity, ...
Dragon arrives at space station in historic 1st (Update 2)
The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, triumphantly captured by astronauts wielding a giant robot arm.
Landmark calculation clears the way to answering how matter is formed
(Phys.org) -- An international collaboration of scientists, including Thomas Blum, associate professor of physics, is reporting in landmark detail the decay process of a subatomic particle called a kaon ...
High-speed method to aid search for solar energy storage catalysts
Eons ago, nature solved the problem of converting solar energy to fuels by inventing the process of photosynthesis.
It's in the genes: Research pinpoints how plants know when to flower
Scientists believe they've pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants "know" when to flower.
Researchers solve structure of human protein critical for silencing genes
In a study published in the journal Cell on May 24, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists describe the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human protein bound to a piece of RNA that "guides" the pr ...
Dec 14, 2010
Rank: not rated yet