Caitlin Drummond|Baruch Fischhoff
Individuals with greater science literacy and education have more polarized beliefs on controversial science topics
Decision Sciences (United States)|Carnegie Mellon University|Carnegie Mellon University
although americans generally hold science high regard respect findings contested issues existence anthropogenic climate change public opinion polarized along religious political lines ask whether individuals general education greater science knowledge measured terms science education science literacy display less polarized beliefs several issues report secondary analyses nationally representative dataset general social survey examining predictors beliefs regarding six potentially controversial issues find beliefs correlated political religious identity stem cell research big bang human evolution political identity alone climate change individuals greater education science education science literacy display polarized beliefs issues find little evidence political religious polarization regarding nanotechnology genetically modified foods six topics people trust scientific enterprise also likely accept findings discuss causal mechanisms might underlie correlation education identitybased polarization