Is political polarization over the reality of climate change, the efficacy of gun control, the safety of nuclear power, and other policy-relevant facts attributable to a simple deficit in public science literacy? Dan Kahan reviews study results showing that polarization on complex factual issues rises in lockstep with culturally diverse citizens’ capacity to comprehend scientific evidence generally. The talk also reviews surprising evidence about how curiosity affects polarization.
Dan Kahan, Yale Law School