How to deal with the Craig Kelly in your life: a guide to tackling coronavirus contrarians
Mike Bowers/courtesy of The Guardian Australians love a fiery contest, whether on the sporting field or in the corridors of Canberra. Which is why this week’s spat between Tanya Plibersek and Craig Kelly, which played out in front of cameras still rolling from the...
You can help beat coronavirus disease by fighting contagious misinformation
The coronavirus disease is now a pandemic. You might feel like the world is slipping into an abyss, but every one of us can do something to keep those around us safe. Yes, this includes washing our hands properly. It also includes fighting the misinformation...
The winding story of the backfire effect
Ethan Porter was about to write the most difficult sentence of his PhD program. He opened his laptop. Looking at the keyboard he reflected on the “nightmare stories” he’d heard about how professors had treated junior scholars when they critiqued their work...
We asked people to do climate change maths. Their answers depended on their politics
The article below was originally published by The Conversation and is based on my research in the journal Environmental Communication. Will J Grant, Australian National University In an ideal world, people would look at issues with a clear focus only on the facts. But...
Your Q&A format may be doing you more harm than good
*** Update - Ecker et al (2019) has published compelling new information showing that a Q&A format is actually quite effective in getting people to update their false beliefs. In this new study a sample of 531 Americans were asked to correct their beliefs either...
Are other people more biased than you?
Have you ever come across someone who simply refuses to acknowledge facts when they don't suit their argument? Chances are if you've debated matters of politics, religion or science, even with friends or family members, you've come across bias - an inclination that...
Angry people are easier to persuade
A few weeks ago we had a look at whether humour could be used to make arguments more persuasive. How timely then that research just published has investigated whether anger could also be used (although probably not at the same time). Watch enough TV and you'll see...
New INSPIRE framework to improve written communication
Governments can be the best communicators and the worst communicators. Sometimes they produce award winning campaigns that save millions of lives, yet at the same time they often produce baffling letters and confusing forms that leave us frustrated and annoyed....
Can humour make you more persuasive?
We've all seen times when humour has worked to change someone's mind. A salesperson might have disarmed you with a joke and five minutes later you're reaching for your credit card. Humour in advertising and other forms of communication seems to be almost everywhere....
Scared of stats? Try Jamovi
Statistics can be scary. But a good understanding of stats is needed to understand relationships, impacts and effectiveness. Most people would probably prefer to pull their own teeth out than wade through mountains of data and formulas with Greek letters in them for...
What’s more effective – playing the ball or playing the man?
I love Australian Rules Football. It is one of the rare games where you can knock over a player without the ball, which makes it exciting and chaotic. Of course choosing when you should try to tackle the player with the ball or go for the big hit on another opponent...
New guidelines for talking about climate change
Talking about climate change is tough. People's attitudes about climate change can be very entrenched, and often based on cultural factors, and I'm fascinated about whether the efforts from both sides have significantly shifted community sentiment either way over...