Communicating Science and Science Communication · A Distinction Communicating Science: telling our stories Science Communication aiding their decisions in which any of our stories

Communicating Science and Science Communication

Baruch Fischhoff Carnegie Mellon University

http://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/people/faculty/baruch-fischhoff.html

APA Public Interest Leadership Conference

November 16, 2015

A Distinction

Communicating Science: telling our stories

Science Communication aiding their decisions

A Distinction



in which any of our stories is just a part

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/Supplement_3 4


vonWinterfeldt, D. (2013). Bridging the gap between science and decision making. PNAS, 110 , 14055-14061

http://www.fda.gov/oc/advisory/OCRCACACpg.html

Recommendations for Managing Emerging Events

Have a consistent policy in all domains Provide useful, timely information Address: risks and benefits, uncertainty,

personal actions, FDA actions Audience needs should drive agency

analyses Use standard formats; evaluate routinely Consider needs of diverse populations

http://www.fda.gov/oc/advisory/OCRCACACpg.html

10

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Science Communication

Step 1. Identify the science most relevant to the choices that people face.

Step 2. Find out what they know already. Step 3. Design communications to fill the

critical gaps. Evaluate. Repeat as necessary.

Skills Needed

Subject matter experts Decision analysts Psychologists Communicators

plague domestic radon perchloroethylene methylene chloride LNG EMF climate change avian flu detergent low birth weight breast cancer breast implants nuclear explosions nuclear energy in space herpes (stigma) Plan B (morning after pill) xenotransplantation neonates smart meters vaccines (anthrax, MMR) … …

Some Science Communication Topics

Behavior Follows Simple Principles

Some Simple Principles of Judgment

People are good at tracking what they see, but not at detecting sample bias.

People have limited ability to evaluate the extent of their own knowledge.

People have difficulty imagining themselves in other visceral states.

People have difficulty projecting non- linear trends.

People confuse ignorance and stupidity.

Some Simple Principles of Choice

People consider the return on their investment in making decisions.

People dislike uncertainty, but can live with it.

People are insensitive to opportunity costs. People are prisoners to sunk costs,

hating to recognize losses. People may not know what they want,

especially with novel questions.

Behavior Follows Simple Principles

However, the set of principles is large, the contextual triggers are subtle, and the interactions are complex

As a result, research is needed for each decision.

Performance Standards - Content A communication is adequate, if… it contains the issues material to effective

decision making decision makers can access those issues decision makers understand and know

what confidence to put in them

Performance Standards - Process A communication process is adequate, if… It reaches decision makers early enough for

them to affect their options It prepares them for the range of possible

outcomes It respects their autonomy

Framework for Environmental Health Risk Management. Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management (I997).

Fischhoff, B. (2015). The realities of risk-cost-benefit analysis. Science, 350(6260), 527. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa6516

Barriers

Failures of empathy Failures of sympathy Obscurant languages of power

Failures of Empathy

common knowledge effect false consensus effect fundamental attribution error self-serving biases myths (panic, adolescents’ unique

sense of invulnerability …) disrupted feedback

…

Failures of Sympathy

Our work isn’t enough Our work isn’t even central Our work is challenged

Open Science Collaboration, Science 349, aac4716 (2015). DOI: 10.1126/science.aac4716

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/28/science/psychology-studies-redid.html

Obscurant Languages of Policy

Paperwork Reduction Act interpreted as requiring OMB-OIRA approval of social research

EO 12291 requiring cost-benefit analysis of all significant federal regulations


Analysis as a Human Process

Formal analyses can be valuable aids to decision-making if their limits are understood. Those limits arise from the two forms of subjectivity found in all analyses: ethical judgments, made when setting the terms of an analysis, and scientific judgments, made when conducting it.


Some Resources



http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ReportsManualsForms/Reports/ucm268078.htm

Each Chapter Ends with Guidance on Evaluation

For no money at all For a little money For money commensurate with the personal,

organizational, and political stakes resting on effective communication

39

A Distinction



in which any of our stories is just a part

Science Communication

Step 1. Identify the science most relevant to the choices that people face.

Step 2. Find out what they know already. Step 3. Design communications to fill the

critical gaps. Evaluate. Repeat as necessary.

Skills Needed

Subject matter experts Decision analysts Psychologists Communicators

Books Fischhoff, B., Brewer, N., & Downs, J.S. (eds.). (2011). Communicating risks and benefits: An evidence-based

user’s guide. Washington, DC: Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ReportsManualsForms/Reports/ucm268078.htm

Fischhoff, B., & Chauvin, C. (eds.). (2011). Intelligence analysis: Behavioral and social science foundations. Washington, DC: National Academy Presshttp://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13062

Fischhoff, B., & Kadvany, J. (2011). Risk: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fischhoff, B., Lichtenstein, S., Slovic, P., Derby, S. L. & Keeney, R. L. (1981). Acceptable risk. New York:

Cambridge University Press. also (NUREG/CR-1614). National Research Council. (1996). Understanding risk. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Morgan, M.G., Henrion, M. (1990). Uncertainty. New York: Cambridge University Press. Slovic, P. (ed.) (2000). Perception of risk. London: Earthscan. Articles Bruine de Bruin, W., Parker, A., & Fischhoff, B. (2007) Individual differences in adult decision-making

competence (A-DMC). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 92, 938-956. Fischhoff, B. (1992). Giving advice: Decision theory perspectives on sexual assault. American Psychologist,

47, 577-588. Fischhoff, B. (2011). Communicating the risks of terrorism (and anything else). American Psychologist, 66,

520-531. Fischhoff, B. (2013). The sciences of science communication. PNAS, 110 (Supplement 3), 14033-14039. doi:

10.1073/pnas.1213273110 Fischhoff, B. (2015). The realities of risk-cost-benefit analysis. Science, 350(6260), 527.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa6516 Fischhoff, B., & Davis, A.L. (2014). Communicating scientific uncertainty. PNAS, 111 (Supplement 4), 13664-13671. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1317504111 http://www.hss.cmu.edu/departments/sds/src/faculty/fischhoff.php Behavior Decision and Policy Working Group http://www.cmu.edu/epp/behavior-decision-policy Carnegie Mellon Electricity Center: http://wpweb2.tepper.cmu.edu/ceic/ Center for Climate and Environmental Decision Making: http://cedm.epp.cmu.edu/index.php Center for Human Rights Science: http://www.cmu.edu/chrs/

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13040

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13062

Documents

Communicating Science and Science Communication · A Distinction Communicating Science: telling our stories Science Communication aiding their decisions in which any of our stories