Misinformation and the epistemic integrity of democracy

Stephan Lewandowsky; Ullrich K H Ecker; John Cook; Sander van der Linden; Jon Roozenbeek; Naomi Oreskes

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101711

Misinformation and the epistemic integrity of democracy

Curr Opin Psychol. 2023 Dec:54:101711. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101711. Epub 2023 Oct 19.

Authors

Stephan Lewandowsky¹, Ullrich K H Ecker², John Cook³, Sander van der Linden⁴, Jon Roozenbeek⁴, Naomi Oreskes⁵

Affiliations

¹ University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; University of Potsdam, Germany; University of Western Australia, Australia. Electronic address: stephan.lewandowsky@bristol.ac.uk.
² University of Western Australia, Australia.
³ University of Melbourne, Australia.
⁴ University of Cambridge, UK.
⁵ Harvard University, USA.

Abstract

Democracy relies on a shared body of knowledge among citizens, for example trust in elections and reliable knowledge to inform policy-relevant debate. We review the evidence for widespread disinformation campaigns that are undermining this shared knowledge. We establish a common pattern by which science and scientists are discredited and how the most recent frontier in those attacks involves researchers in misinformation itself. We list several ways in which psychology can contribute to countermeasures.

Keywords: Attacks on scientists; Climate science; Integrity of democracy; Misinformation.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Communication*
Democracy*
Humans
Politics

Grants and funding

101020961/ERC_/European Research Council/International