AV诊所

Abstract

聽Partisans in the U.S. debate the truth of scientific conclusions about some of the most threatening natural phenomena the world faces (e.g., climate change, COVID-19). Discouraged by such debates, influential media outlets have declared this a 鈥減ost-truth era.鈥� Absent from these conversations, however, is a critical question: What is truth? While philosophers have sought an answer for centuries, little research has interrogated how ordinary people conceptualize truth. Might such folk conceptions of truth differ from how philosophers and scientists think about truth? Given widespread disagreement about the truth of many topics within environmental, energy, and health sciences鈥攆ueled by the increasing politicization of science鈥攊t is critical to better understand citizens鈥� acceptance and skepticism of scientific conclusions. To that end, our project aims to tackle two key questions: 1) Do folk conceptions of truth depart from philosophical accounts of truth in a way that helps explain why politicized topics receive such divergent truth labels? 2) How can science鈥攅specially in the case of politicized topics鈥攂e communicated in a way that promotes both trust and public acceptance of scientific knowledge?

Presentations

• Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Truth evaluations and the role of intent, Society for Philosophy and Psychology, July 2022
• Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Truth evaluations and the role of intent, Max Planck Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality, June 2022
• Rarely pure and never simple: Truth, Trust, and the Role of Intent in Expert Testimony, Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology, May 2022
• Evaluations of Truth and Trustworthiness, Air Force Office of Sponsored Research Trust and Influence Program Review, September 2022
• Nothing but the Truth? Exploring the Role of Intent in Lay Conceptions of Truth, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, February 2023
• Examining truth in the Post-Truth Era, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Conference, July 2023 (delivered by Isaac Handley-Miner)
• Do the intentions of information sources sway people鈥檚 truth classifications?, Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), February 2023 (delivered by Isaac Handley-Miner)
• Truth evaluations are sensitive to intent, even when beliefs are controlled for, Misinformation and Belief Science Preconference at Society for Personality and Social Psychology, February 2023 (delivered by Isaac Handley-Miner)
  

笔耻产濒颈肠补迟颈辞苍蝉听

• Handley-Miner, I.J., Pope, M., Atkins, R.K. et al. Scientific Reports 13, 7718 (2023).聽
  

Additional Grants

• Truth in the age of large language models, Sloan Foundation ($249,538). Continuation of this work in the AI space led by Isaac Handley-Miner (PhD student on SIGECS project).
  

Media

• , press release from AV诊所 College prepared by Ed Hayward聽
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• Putting Truth to the Test, BC News

Students Trained聽

• 2 Graduate Students:聽
  • Isaac Handley-Miner, Psychology & Neuroscience
  • Michael Pope, Philosophy
    

Additional Accomplishments聽

• Graduate Student Poster Award Runner-Up at Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2023 for "Do the intentions of information sources sway people鈥檚 truth classifications?"