Overconfidence and the discounting of expertise: A commentary

A considerable gap exists between the scientific community and American public on several topics in science and technology. While there is overwhelming scientific consensus on the risks or benefits of issues such as vaccines or climate change, many citizens hold misperceptions about these facts and risks. Such misperceptions can have considerable consequences. For example, incorrect beliefs that the influenza vaccine causes the flu or that the MMR vaccine is linked to autism can reduce intent to vaccinate and contribute to a variety of individual and societal health risks (Joslyn and Sylvester, 2017; Nyhan and Reifler, 2015). Similarly, misperceptions of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change affects individuals’ environmental behaviors and their support for ameliorative environmental policies (van der Linden et al., 2015). Correcting or reducing such misperceptions is thus a big concern for policymakers and practitioners. Doing so requires an understanding of the belief structures that underpin or are associated with such misperceptions in order to better communicate scientific findings.