Cultural Cognition of Scientific Consensus

Cultural Cognition of Scientific Consensus opens up a much bigger data question. Our guest is Dan Kahan about his research into how people consume and interpret science news. In an era of fake news, motivated reasoning, and alternative facts, important questions need to be asked about how people understand new information.

Guest

Dan Kahan: Dan Kahan is the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Professor of Psychology at Yale University. In addition to risk perception, his areas of research include criminal law and evidence. Prior to coming to Yale in 1999, Professor Kahan was on the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School. He also served as a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court (1990-91) and to Judge Harry Edwards of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1989-90). He received his B.A. from Middlebury College and his J.D. from Harvard University.