Real skeptics study the evidence and ask questions, rather than taking political dogma on faith. Experiencing disasters can open more eyes to the risks.
Articles on Skepticism
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While rarely explicitly taught to scientists in training, a set of common values guides science in the quest to advance knowledge while being ethical and trustworthy.
Humorist Will Rogers spent decades gleefully skewering what he called the ‘bunk’ of American politics − hypocrisy, inflated egos, shady deal-making. Both parties stood guilty of peddling bunk.
Providing a correction can affect how the audience feels about the journalists trying to set the record straight.
Conspiracy theories abound. What should you believe − and how can you tell?
An intellectually humble person may have strong commitments to various beliefs − but balanced with an openness to the likelihood that others, too, may have valuable insights, ideas and evidence.
What’s true and what’s not? An expert in media literacy explains how to evaluate information.
To communicate scientific findings that are relevant to the public, science communicators need to understand how to overcome attitudes that are anti-science.
Instead of assuming that science skeptics are motivated by ignorance, or selfishness, we should listen to them and try to understand and address their actual concerns.
Few white evangelicals in the U.S. say they believe in human-made climate change. This strand of science denial seems to have as much to do with conservative politics as the Bible’s teachings.
The Mueller report reveals that some U.S. citizens helped Russian government agents organize real-life events, aiding Russia’s propaganda campaign. Don’t be like them.
If you’re committed to a belief, it’s hard to let go. Psychology and philosophy provide different ways to think about how skeptics respond to counterevidence.
Human beings seem to be born wearing rose-colored glasses. Psychologists are interested in how this bias toward the positive works in the very young – and how it fades over time.
Most children are not likely to believe that fish live on the moon. What makes children accept some stories and be skeptical about others?
The world around you might be an illusion and you’re really a brain in a vat connected to a supercomputer. Sounds preposterous? But can you prove it’s not true?
Top contributors
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Associate Professor of Philosophy of Education, University of Birmingham
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Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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Professor and Department of Psychology Chair, The University of Texas at Austin
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Associate Professor of Communications (Social Media), Syracuse University
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Associate Professor, Management and Psychology, University of Toronto
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Associate Professor of Philosophy, Carleton University
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Professor of Psychology, The Ohio State University
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Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, Wesleyan University
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Professor of Philosophy, Wake Forest University
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Professor of Philosophy, University of South Carolina
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Teaching Associate Professor of Media, West Virginia University
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Associate Research Professor of Social Psychology, Louisiana State University
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Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina – Greensboro
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Assistant Professor, Marketing, Simon Fraser University
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Associate Professor of Marketing, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona