The title of this article is misleading (and the subtitle is just wrong). The research being summarized is a new paper “Science Curiosity and Political Information Processing” by Dan Kahan and others. They report that while partisanship leads to politically motivated reasoning, greater “science curiosity” tended to negate this. Subjects with higher “science intelligence” used this skill to engage more effectively in politically motivated reasoning, so that Democrats and Republicans views diverged more strongly with increased “science intelligence”. However, Democrats and Republicans views converged slightly, while still being in disagreement, with increased “science curiosity”. Science curiosity “reflects the motivation to seek out and consume scientific information for personal pleasure.”
“We observed this kind of strange thing about these people who are high in science curiosity,” he says. The more scientifically curious a person, the less likely she was to show partisan bias in answering questions. “They seem to be moving in lockstep rather than polarizing as they became more science-curious.”
The title of this article is misleading (and the subtitle is just wrong). The research being summarized is a new paper “Science Curiosity and Political Information Processing” by Dan Kahan and others. They report that while partisanship leads to politically motivated reasoning, greater “science curiosity” tended to negate this. Subjects with higher “science intelligence” used this skill to engage more effectively in politically motivated reasoning, so that Democrats and Republicans views diverged more strongly with increased “science intelligence”. However, Democrats and Republicans views converged slightly, while still being in disagreement, with increased “science curiosity”. Science curiosity “reflects the motivation to seek out and consume scientific information for personal pleasure.”