The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science
by Chris Mooney
This article summarizes a number of experiments and studies from psychology on why it is so difficult to change some people's beliefs. While the article goes into how personal beliefs can be strongly influenced by an individual's sense of 'group identity', it doesn't really go into how one defines their 'group identity'. Is it entirely determined by one's social environment, or is it determined more internally.
Some people ask me why I do this blog when it is very clear that I will never change the belief systems of many of the individuals I confront here. The short answer is that I don't expect to change their beliefs - I expect to provide the information that can sway the person who is still 'on the fence'.
One of the more interesting blogs I've started to follow is the dot-physics blog posted by Rhett Allain at Wired magazine. Many of the articles explore applying physics to everyday things.
And now I'll take some time to do a little PSA, since I've spent so much time at a dermatologist's office in recent weeks getting little chunks cut out of me. It's kept me preoccupied and I hope to catch up on the this blog soon.
Skin Cancer Prevention & Early Detection
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