Resources Repository
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ReportPublication 2017Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda
Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, …
Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, people face an increasing need to integrate information from science with their personal values and other considerations as they make important life decisions about medical care, the safety of foods, what to do about climate change, and many other issues. Communicating science effectively, however, is a complex task and an acquired skill. Moreover, the approaches to communicating science that will…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Decision Psychology | Energy/Engineering | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Preferences/Values | Climate/Environment | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2011Model-Based Analyses to Compare Health and Economic Outcomes of Cancer Control: Inclusion of Disparities
In order to identify strategies that improve both population health and ensure its equitable distribution, …
In order to identify strategies that improve both population health and ensure its equitable distribution, the authors developed a typology of cancer disparities that considers types of inequalities among black, white, and Hispanic populations across different cancers. This paper reports on the typology using an existing disease simulation model of cervical cancer that was calibrated to clinical, epidemiological, and cost data in the United States and presents characteristics important for policy discussions. The typology proposed…
Priority Setting/Ethics | State-Transition | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine -
ReportPublication 2021What It Means to Be a Science-Literate Citizen in a Digital World
Science literacy is often held up as crucial for avoiding science-related misinformation and enabling more …
Science literacy is often held up as crucial for avoiding science-related misinformation and enabling more informed individual and collective decision-making. But research has not yet examined whether science literacy actually enables this, nor what skills it would need to encompass to do so. This report addresses three questions to outline what it should mean to be science literate in today’s world: (1) How should we conceptualize science literacy? (2) How can we achieve this science…
Decision Psychology | Energy/Engineering | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Preferences/Values | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2021Misinformation and Public Opinion of Science and Health
This article summarizes the literature on misinformation, beginning with an overview of the most common …
This article summarizes the literature on misinformation, beginning with an overview of the most common definitions of misinformation (and related terms) in the communication literature and then a review of academic studies in the areas of science and health. The author acknowledges four overarching questions that have emerged prominently in recent years: (1) What does “misinformation” (and the terms that are oftentimes treated synonymously) mean? (2) How big of a problem is it in areas…
Decision Psychology | Energy/Engineering | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Preferences/Values | Climate/Environment | Education/Labor | Global -
ToolWeb Portal 2024Disinformation
This topic portal, created by the Atlantic Council, focuses on the issue of disinformation, defined …
This topic portal, created by the Atlantic Council, focuses on the issue of disinformation, defined as false or misleading information spread with the intention to deceive. It is distinct from misinformation, which is the unintentional spread of false information. They argue that the “rise of the internet and online social networks has altered the scope and scale at which people access, consume, and communicate information but that the same technologies that have democratized access to…
Decision Psychology | Energy/Engineering | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Preferences/Values | Climate/Environment | Education/Labor | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | High School | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional -
ArticlePublication 2021Identifying Credible Sources of Health Information in Social Media: Principles and Attributes
Social media is widely used as a source of health information for the general public. …
Social media is widely used as a source of health information for the general public. The potential for information shared through social media to influence health outcomes necessitates action by social media platforms to enhance access and exposure to high-quality, science-based information. This paper summarizes the work of an independent advisory group convened by the National Academy of Medicine that deliberated and gathered information to develop a set of initial principles and attributes that could…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Preferences/Values | Policy/Regulation | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2021Why the Backfire Effect Does Not Explain the Durability of Political Misperceptions
Previous research indicated that corrective information can sometimes provoke a so-called “backfire effect” in which …
Previous research indicated that corrective information can sometimes provoke a so-called “backfire effect” in which respondents more strongly endorsed a misperception about a controversial political or scientific issue when their beliefs or predispositions were challenged. This article shows how subsequent research and media coverage seized on this finding, distorting its generality and exaggerating its role relative to other factors in explaining the durability of political misperceptions. To the contrary, an emerging research consensus finds that…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Preferences/Values | Government/Law | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2021Scientific Theory of Gist Communication and Misinformation Resistance
This article presents a framework for understanding how misinformation shapes decision-making, which has cognitive representations …
This article presents a framework for understanding how misinformation shapes decision-making, which has cognitive representations of gist at its core. The author discusses how the framework goes beyond prior work, and how it can be implemented so that valid scientific messages are more likely to be effective, remembered, and shared through social media, while misinformation is resisted. The distinction between mental representations of the rote facts of a message – its verbatim representation – and…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Preferences/Values | Policy/Regulation | Health/Medicine -
Online LearningVideo, Teaching Resource 2021Reporting on COVID-19 Vaccines at the Intersection of Science and Politics
Journalists play a vital role in communicating to the public about COVID-19 vaccines, and currently …
Journalists play a vital role in communicating to the public about COVID-19 vaccines, and currently under challenging circumstances. The science surrounding COVID-19 is rapidly changing, vaccines have been developed at “warp speed” using a new approach, and misinformation is on the rise. Moreover, current and historical injustices and inequities, as well as heightened political polarization, affect what information is consumed, trusted, and acted upon. This webinar offers an opportunity for members of the media to…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Science/Technology | North America | Social Determinants | Preferences/Values | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Health/Medicine