Cultural cognition is the tendency of individuals to conform their beliefs about disputed matters to values that define their cultural identities. That doesn't seem to be an earth shattering observation as we see how divided the political classes are about certain issues about which there really shouldn't be much doubt.
Conservatives, for the most part, can't understand why progressives are so intent on disarming citizens when it seems obvious that only the most law abiding citizens would obey any law requiring them to relinquish their privately owned firearms. Likewise, progressives are dumbfounded by the idea that anyone could be suspicious of the claims that climate science is settled.
Science has an answer to how to reach those with opposing views. See “Science curious” more likely to explore data contradicting their world view. Researchers attempted to measure science curiosity among survey takers and found this:
While low-science-curiosity folks were more likely to select the article that agreed with their opinion, regardless of whether it sounded novel, high-science-curiosity people preferred whichever headline was “surprising.” If anything, they were even more likely to select that headline if it ran counter to their beliefs.
The undercurrent there seems to be carrying water for the climate-change-science-is-settled school of thought. So global warming agnostics shouldn't be surprised to see more "surprising" headlines about climate change. But why should they have all the fun? Gun owners should get in on this too.
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