I will examine both the “supply side” and “demand side” of climate denial. On the supply side, I will report the evidence for the organized dissemination of disinformation by political operatives and vested interests, and how the media respond to these distortions of the media landscape. On the demand side, I explore the variables that drive people’s rejection of climate science and lead them to accept denialist talking points, with a particular focus on the issue of political symmetry. The e...

Much like a viral contagion, false information about climate change can spread rapidly from one individual to another. Moreover, once lodged in memory, misinformation is difficult to correct. Inoculation theory, therefore, offers a natural basis for developing a psychological ‘vaccine’ against the spread of fake news and misinformation about climate change. Specifically, in a series of randomized lab and field studies, we show that it is possible to pre-emptively “immunize” people against cli...

Climate change skepticism and disengagement are rooted in deeply seated human motives to belong, to identify with and feel accepted by groups and communities, and to defend and uphold social and economic systems and ideologies. These tendencies come into conflict with acknowledging the reality of climate change, which is threatening to many aspects of established systems and the status quo. They give rise to motivated cognition processes that result in dismissing evidence for climate chang...

Misinformation about climate change confuses the public, reduces support for mitigation policies, and cancels out accurate information. Inoculation theory offers one approach to effectively neutralize the influence of misinformation. With inoculation, misinformation is delivered in a “weakened form” by warning of the threat of being misled along with counterarguments explaining the misleading techniques within denialist claims.  In order to identify reasoning fallacies within misinformation, ...