Just because it’s popular, doesn’t mean it’s right. This is an issue
raised quite a bit in debates, especially on science blogs where critics
often tend to weigh in with appeals to popular opinion over scientific
conclusions, especially when it comes to climate change and the theory of evolution.
But facts and evidence don’t depend on popular opinion to be true and
no amount of denial will change them. The only thing popular opinion
about scientific facts indicates is the public’s acceptance of science,
and unfortunately, that opinion is often hostile
and personal anecdotes are given far more respect than random,
double-blind, clinical studies and complex, elaborate experiments with
definitive results. Humans are social creatures and jumping on a
bandwagon is a lot more important to us than abstract science. We can
see this in how alternative medicine spreads across cultures, and even more clearly, in a study which reveals just how little some people care about science.
In August 2009, sociologist Heather Ridolfo and her team showed 160
people a video in which an actor was doing abnormally well at a
card-guessing game (since he was often told what the card was off
camera), and after splitting the participants into four groups, asked
them to fill out questionnaires about their beliefs in ESP and
paranormal abilities. Obviously, since for many people seeing is
believing, the participants generally had very positive things to say
about ESP and gave the possibility of paranormal abilities a score of
4.37 out of 7, which equates to a 62% likelihood. But there’s a twist to
these results. Before seeing the video, the subjects were divided into
four groups and given very different information about the public’s and
scientists’ perception of the paranormal. The first two groups were told
that 25% and 90% the public accepts the idea of ESP while scientists
reject it, respectively. The second two groups were given the same
public acceptance data, but told that scientists accept the idea of
paranormal abilities as well. The groups most likely to rate the
probability of paranormal abilities after being primed with fictional
statistics and watching the video? Those who were told that a quarter of
the public believes in ESP while science rejects it (with a rating of
4.58), and those informed that some 90% of people, including scientists,
believe in the phenomena (with a 4.80 rating).
So what do these results mean? To me, it seems pretty loud and clear
that the findings indicate an alarmingly low regard for scientific
opinion which is only taken seriously when scientists seem to support a
popular idea, reinforced by some sort of media endorsement. In other
words, this is the bandwagon fallacy in action. Need more proof? The
lowest ratings of ESP’s likelihood came from the group told that while
scientists accept the notion, just 25% of the public does. They gave the
phenomenon a 3.52, or a 50/50 chance in their responses. Sure, a bunch
of eggheads might believe it but people aren’t buying it, the rating
implies. Not only that, but this data set echoes the arguments of
virtually every pseudoscientific or anti-scientific movement which
alternates between vilifying scientists as a bunch of know-nothings
unable to convince people of their conclusions, and proudly declaring that science is on their side
even when calling such statements a lie would be far too kind in
conveying just how unfounded such claims are. Now, it’s true that
scientists don’t hold a monopoly on truth, nor are they the ultimate
authority on whether something is possible or not. However, their words,
which have to be based on evidence, need to have at least some weight
rather than be forced to comply with ideology and popular opinion to be
taken seriously. Or even worse, rejected just because the word “science”
is involved.
Oh and by the way, did I mention that the study’s participants were
undergraduate students? The people we’re supposed to be educating about
the value of logic, evidence and applying sound reasoning rather than
simply following the crowd about anything and everything, even
irrational and far-fetched claims which have no basis in reality? With wannabe priests proselytizing in our classrooms and creationist science teachers proudly parading ignorance as legitimate education, is it any wonder that science is being discarded even in a post- secondary educational institution and DARPA is panicking about the looming lack of experts in science and engineering in the near future, calling for more programs which try to teach science and math to kids?
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