Improving Reasoning About Global Warming, Climate Change, etc., with Information and Evidence
Michael Ranney, Professor
Education, Cognitive Science
Applications for Spring 2024 are closed for this project.
The Reasoning Research Group has explored many controversies, but now focuses on global warming––that is, reasoning about global climate change and/or ways to slow/stop it. We often study (1) how numbers and/or factual information improve conceptual understandings of climate change, and (2) the psychological relationships among global warming beliefs and other beliefs. One hallmark study relates to how videos (e.g., see the 5-minute video in HowGlobalWarmingWorks.org) can change how people understand and/or accept global warming.
Recent facets of our project have involved (a) the physical mechanism of global climate change and (b) analyzing the utilities (for journalists, students, etc.) of various numbers/statistics in changing beliefs about science-based societal policies.
Role: The apprentice's role will somewhat be determined based upon the match between the constantly-changing project's needs and the apprentice's availability, interests, and skill-set. (But see more specific Qualifications below.) The apprentice would likely be engaged in database construction, reviewing relevant literatures, designing experimental/outreach materials, coding/entering/analyzing data, and/or running experiments. Website design skills to further outreach efforts will probably be most crucial for the present semester.
Qualifications: The apprentice will optimally have experience with computer science––especially website design and user interface/interaction. Secondarily, knowledge of (and passion about) global warming is desirable––along with an ability to carefully do literature-research regarding climate change. Familiarity with data analysis (e.g., statistics) is the next most (tertiary) desirable qualification. An interest in experimental research in psychology or cognitive science would be "icing on the cake"––that is a quaternary qualification.
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Related website: https://www.howglobalwarmingworks.org
Related website: https://convinceme.com/publications.html#rtmd