Echo Chamber: Facts don’t matter to climate skeptics, empathy does

[topaznebula]

Climate change skeptics are most likely to change their mind when an argument uses values they care about, not facts. The reason? People feel secure in their echo chamber.

As a science communicator, media creator, and journalist, I’m trying to share new important information with people who may have never been exposed to it. But people tend to

Comments

[karmasoup]

It would be interesting to observe what a conversation like this would sound like in practice.

[topaznebula]

Agreed. Writing this I was thinking about some of the conversations I’ve had with my own conservative family members who denied climate change. Years ago, those conversations would consist of me saying facts and figures, them arguing and getting mad, and me getting upset that they didn’t care about my future or the future of children in our family

[estelle]

That is a very relatable (ha!) example.

[belenen]

Excellent post! Very true and well-written.

What you wrote about is also true for calling people out on racism. If you refer to a value they think they hold before explaining their mistake, they are more likely to accept it.

So "I know that you care a lot about not hurting people, so I wanted to let you know that the word "gyp" hurts people" works better than "gyp is a racist word because [factual reasons]."

[estelle]

That is another helpful example.

[estelle]

Thanks! I cannot wait to try it.

[d0gs]

This is so very well written