Episode 20: Who Do You Trust? Part 3: Trusting Experts (And Why We Often Don't)

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In this episode, April discusses the importance of experts in society and why it's so hard for some people to trust them. And, as promised, she put lots of articles in the show notes below, because she wants you to trust her.

Episode 20 Show Notes

For science information that's both educational and entertaining, subscribe to Phil Plait's astronomy blog:
https://www.syfy.com/tags/bad-astronomy

Daniel Newman's article about expertise is focused more towards marketing, but still applies:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2014/04/22/experts-may-have-influence-but-what-makes-an-expert/?sh=6a6f846212c8

Here's the NPR article about Idaho lawmakers calling their public health officials elitists:
https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-government/2020-08-10/idaho-lawmaker-listening-to-experts-is-an-elitist-approach-to-coronavirus-restrictions

A great article from the Christian Science Monitor about our worsening anti-intellectualism and distrust of experts:
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2018/0827/Who-made-you-an-expert-Is-America-s-distrust-of-elites-becoming-more-toxic

Jacques Peretti's excellent discussion of how "elite" became a bad word:
https://qz.com/1237582/how-elite-became-a-bad-word/

Some articles discussing the factors that play a role in whether/how much individuals trust science:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/do-you-trust-science-these-five-factors-play-big-role
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/12/key-findings-about-americans-confidence-in-science-and-their-views-on-scientists-role-in-society/

Gleb Tsipursky's article about distrust in science:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/dis-trust-in-science/

Fascinating paper about anti-intellectualism in America:
https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/zQnndNgGgDkpWwavHMnA/full

Articles about the Dunning Kruger effect and covid conspiracy theories:
https://europepmc.org/article/MED/29966822
https://www.sciencedirect.com/sdfe/pdf/download/eid/1-s2.0-S0277953618303964/first-page-pdf

A really good paper (that I didn't have time to discuss) outlining some ways that public health experts might get more people to trust them:
https://kiej.georgetown.edu/trust-experts-and-covid-19-special-issue/

Maria Baghramian's blog post about expertise:
https://jerichochambers.com/trust-in-experts-why-and-why-not/

Tom Nichols on expertise and why it's important: