Download This PaperConfident and Skeptical: What Science Misinformation Patterns Can Teach Us About the COVID-19 Pandemic
26 Pages Posted: 22 Apr 2020
Date Written: April 19, 2020
Abstract
As the COVID-19 pandemic has led to renewed focus on scientific misinformation, we take advantage of a December 2019 pilot study for the American National Election Study to analyze the US population's misinformation across a range of scientific topics. We find that people who are misinformed about scientific issues are confident in their beliefs, often as confident as those who hold correct beliefs. The misinformed also are less likely to trust experts and less likely to favor using scientific evidence in policy making than people who are not misinformed. These findings highlight the challenges of educating the public about COVID-19, particularly those who already are misinformed about the disease.
Keywords: Science, Vaccination, Global Warming, GM Foods, Experts, Misinformation, Science Misinformation
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