Stephen Lewandowsky, chairperson of the University of Bristol's cognitive psychology department, shared his thoughts on conspiracy theories related to climate change.
Climate change has been one of the hot topics involving our environment nowadays. Many experts have debated about its truth, the possible solutions, and the result. Many experts and even ordinary people have also contributed or have done their part just to combat the rapid progress of global warming. However, there are still some people who remained in-denial of its existence.
Lewandowsky is a psychologist whose research pertained to computer simulations of people's decision-making processes. He has been observing the public's reactions to beliefs that are supported by scientific findings. He had published the results of his studies in online journals Nature Climate Change and Psychological Science. Recently, he wrote a blog in Reddit talking about conspiracy theories and public denial of climate change.
He stated that the conspiracy theories exist because people do not trust the government.
"In societies that are not transparent and less democratic, conspiracy theories flourish because the government cannot be trusted. In general, the people who believe in conspiracy theories are low on trust and feel that they have been treated badly by life or society," he wrote.
He suggests that proper education can help change the way people think about reality. He cited the "tobacco industry" as one of the oldest conspiracy theory. People kept smoking despite multiple studies proving its dangerous health effects.
When asked about his thoughts on the conspiracy happening in climate change discussions that delay the mitigating efforts in the United States, he explained that such exists because most people are worried that the government will hinder competition between private companies.
"It is pretty clear that fear of the solutions drives much opposition to the science," Lewandowsky wrote.
However, he does not want to force people to change their beliefs and embrace the fact that the global warming is happening. He argued that those in-denials cannot be blamed because they were "misinformed" due to lack of proper education in climate science.
