Catching up

Technical difficulties look to have been resolved! And the blog, in a few weeks, is going to be going in a slightly different direction: less about the book, more about reactions to current events, findings in the social sciences, and so on.

In the meantime, some catching up:

Here was this Sunday’s column, and some follow-up advice.

Here is Wednesday’s chat.

I Tweeted a link to a scientific abstract that, apparently, a lot of folks couldn’t access. Here’s the abstract:

The Scientific Impotence Excuse: Discounting Belief-Threatening Scientific Abstracts

Geoffrey D. Munro, Towson University

ABSTRACT

The scientific impotence discounting hypothesis predicts that people resist belief-disconfirming scientific evidence by concluding that the topic of study is not amenable to scientific investigation. In 2 studies, participants read a series of brief abstracts that either confirmed or disconfirmed their existing beliefs about a stereotype associated with homosexuality. Relative to those reading belief-confirming evidence, participants reading belief-disconfirming evidence indicated more belief that the topic could not be studied scientifically and more belief that a series of other unrelated topics could not be studied scientifically. Thus, being presented with belief-disconfirming scientific evidence may lead to an erosion of belief in the efficacy of scientific methods.

Haven’t read the paper yet, but it sounds interesting.

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