Understanding public attitudes towards science has become an increasingly important area of research in recent decades, and the importance of this kind of work has only been heightened by the emergence of COVID-19, and the diverse and unpredictable public responses to scientific and medical advice during the pandemic. In this episode Will and Richard talk to Dr Baastian Rutjens, who investigates public attitudes to science around the world, with a focus on what he describes as ‘science scepticism’. Baastian explains how tools and methods from social psychology can help us to understand the motivations which underlie scepticism of science, and we discuss the wider social and political implications of these kinds of attitudes.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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