ABSTRACT: Like most types of information, scientific findings are filtered through the views and values of audience members. As a result, the same information can be interpreted differently by those of opposed ideology or disposition. My presentation will raise the question: rather than having scientific insights hijacked by them, can science communicators work with these audience-level reasoning tendencies? In this presentation, I will discuss the role that audiences’ views and values play in understanding of and attitudes towards polarizing science in several contexts (including climate change, evolution, genetically modified foods, and even the shape of the Earth) and report ways that my colleagues and I have uncovered to minimize their power to undercut public understanding of areas of scientific consensus.

BIO: Asheley R. Landrum is an assistant professor of science communication in the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University and a media psychologist. Prior to this, she was the Howard Deshong Postdoctoral Fellow in the Science of Science Communication at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. Dr. Landrum's research investigates how cultural values and worldviews influence people's selection and processing of science media and how these phenomena develop from childhood into adulthood. Recently, she received a National Science Foundation collaborative grant (with public media company KQED in San Francisco) for a project examining Millennials' engagement with Science Media

Respondent: Matti Wilks