Leon Festinger (1919–1989)
Author of When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That Predicted the Destruction of the World
About the Author
Works by Leon Festinger
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Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1919-05-08
- Date of death
- 1989-02-11
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Occupations
- Psychologist
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Statistics
- Works
- 11
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 519
- Popularity
- #47,860
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 41
- Languages
- 5
I can’t believe what some science contributors advocate; it looks like some kind of Simon Cowell extravaganza to communicate science - make it glitzy and we'll all be experts in quantum mechanics? Perhaps it would be more instructive if some effort was put into understanding the psychology of how the non-scientific amongst us process such information.
One of the fundamental problems facing those endeavouring to disseminate any form of factual data is one of cognitive dissonance. For example, the conflation of astrology with science and a belief in the equivalence of their methodology.
It is immensely tiresome to read that it is all the fault of scientists that the general public has a poor understanding of its various disciplines. It turns scientists into villains, and naysayers into victims fighting to defend their version of the "truth" against the deceitful and malign intelligence of the experts.
I find it hilarious that the deniers go on and on about "how consensus isn't science" and yet starting from the 90s the deniers were the ones complaining that "the verdict is still undecided". Hence the scientific community, in many independent, peer-reviewed, ways showed that climate scientists agree on one side of the climate change coin more than the other. So the term "consensus".
The deniers really want their cake and eat it too.… (more)