Why do people come to reject climate science or the safety and efficacy of vaccines, in
defiance of the scientific consensus? A popular view explains bad beliefs like these as …

A spirited defense of the relevance of reason for an era of popular skepticism over such
matters as climate change, vaccines, and evolution. Why does reason matter, if (as many …

Debunking skeptics claim that our moral beliefs are formed by processes unsuited to
identifying objective facts, such as emotions inculcated by our genes and culture; therefore …

There is a robust scientific consensus concerning climate change and evolution. But many
people reject these expert views, in favour of beliefs that are strongly at variance with the …

Changing our minds isn't easy. Even when we recognize our views are disputed by
intelligent and informed people, we rarely doubt our rightness. Why is this so? How can we …

Why do irrational beliefs adopt the trappings of science, to become what is known as
“pseudoscience”? Here, we develop and extend an epidemiological framework to map the …

Efforts to change the attitudes of creationists, antivaccination advocates, and climate
skeptics by simply providing evidence have had limited success. Motivated reasoning helps …

Western history of thought abounds with claims that knowledge is valued and sought. Yet
people often choose not to know. We call the conscious choice not to seek or use …

What makes beliefs thrive? In this paper, we model the dissemination of bona fide science
versus pseudoscience, making use of Dan Sperber's epidemiological model of …

What we believe and what we do not believe has a great impact on what we do and fail to
do. Hence, if we want to act responsibly, we should believe responsibly. However, do we …