Rationally Speaking #19 - Brendan Nyhan on False Beliefs that Refuse to Die
Rationally Speaking Podcast
English - October 10, 2010 17:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MB - ★★★★★ - 464 ratingsNatural Sciences Science Social Sciences philosophy science skepticism Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Ever notice how some beliefs only seem to become stronger, even as they're repeatedly debunked? For example, the belief that Barack Obama is a Muslim, or that Bush banned all stem cell research in the country. Brendan Nyhan tells about what he's learned from his research studies and his experience maintaining Spinsanity, a watchdog blog monitoring political misinformation. Is there any hope of clearing up false beliefs if denials simply make the problem worse? Brendan does offer hope, but it won't be easy.
Brendan Nyhan is a a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan. He received a Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Duke University in May 2009. In 2011, He will join the Department of Government at Dartmouth College as an assistant professor. His research focuses on political scandal and misperceptions. He also conducts research on social networks and applied statistical methods.