Dialogue and Curiosity: A Science Communicator’s Toolkit for Engaging Science Communication

Maktoufi, Reyhaneh

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-j7tr-3t43

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Dialogue and Curiosity: A Science Communicator’s Toolkit for Engaging Science Communication

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Facts are not enough! The more recent wave of science communication practices have been advocating for the death of the deficit model of science communication. This model notes that by possessing sufficient information, individuals will change their attitude and behavior to align with scientific facts. However, recent research has shown that not only facts are not enough, in certain conditions, they might backfire. To move beyond this model, the science communication community advocated for more engaging practices based on dialogue with the public and encouraging participation of all citizens in the scientific process. While there is much talk about the importance of these practices, there is limited research on how to (cognitively) engage the public, what does that engagement look like, and what are the empirical outcomes of such engagements. In this dissertation I particularly focus on curiosity as a strategy to elicit cognitive engagement. Science curiosity has been shown to have a positive relationship with climate change risk perception and individuals’ tendency to seek counter-attitudinal information. I designed three studies to address the mentioned limitations. The first study is an ethnography, describing the ways scientists and the public use pop culture references to build mutual grounds and maintain a dialogue in the context of Adler Planetarium’s Astronomy Conversation sessions. The second study is a qualitative analysis of curiosity at Astronomy Conversation sessions. I have described factors that elicit the attendees’ questions and also the content of the attendees’ questions. The final study is an experiment, examining the relationship between a scientist’s self-disclosure, the participants’ perception of the scientist’s warmth and trust, their curiosity, climate change risk perception, and risk mitigation.

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