Gale M. Sinatra is the Stephen H. Crocker Professor of Education and Psychology at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, where she directs the Motivated Change Research Lab. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has been recognized by the American Educational Research Association for career achievements in research with the Sylvia Scribner Award. She resides in Altadena, California.
Barbara K. Hofer is a Professor of Psychology Emerita at Middlebury College and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. She received her Ph.D. in psychology and education from the University of Michigan and an Ed.M. in human development from Harvard University. She is the recipient of national awards for both research and teaching, from the American Educational Research Association and the American Psychological Association. She lives in Middlebury, Vermont.

• Preface
  


• Section I: Science Denial, Doubt, and Resistance
  


• 1. What Is the Problem and Why Does It Matter?


• 2. How Do We Make Sense of Science Claims Online?


• 3. What Role Can Science Education Play?


• Section II: Five Explanations for Science Denial, Doubt, and Resistance
  


• 4. How Do Cognitive Biases Influence Reasoning?


• 5. How Do Individuals Think About Knowledge and Knowing?


• 6. What Motivates People to Question Science?


• 7. How Do Emotions and Attitudes Influence Science Understanding?


• 8. What Can We Do About Science Denial, Doubt, and Resistance?
  


• Index

How do individuals decide whether to accept human causes of climate change, vaccinate their children, or wear a mask during a pandemic? In Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It, psychologists Gale Sinatra and Barbara Hofer identify the problem of science denial and offer tools for addressing it.