Lawrence C. Hamilton
Did the Arctic Ice Recover? Demographics of True and False Climate Facts
University of New Hampshire
abstract beliefs climate change divide us public along party lines distinctly hot social issues research finds bettereducated informed respondents likely align parties climate change informationelite polarization resembles process biased assimilation first described psychological experiments nonexperimental settings college graduates could prone biased assimilation effectively acquire information supports beliefs recent national statewide survey data show response patterns consistent biased assimilation biased guessing contributing correlation observed climate beliefs knowledge survey knowledge questions involve key uncontroversial observations whether area latesummer arctic sea ice declined increased declined recovered 30 years ago correct answers predicted education wrong answers eg ice predictors suggest lack knowledge wrong answers eg ice recovered predicted political belief factors instead response patterns suggest causality directions science information affecting climate beliefs also beliefs affecting assimilation science information