Why don't people believe in Scientific Studies?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Also failure of childhood education. Kids are natural scientists until it is beaten out of them

Observe two year old toddlers testing everything: prodding, poking, dropping, bashing, pushing, pulling, stretching. Tasting everything.

Kids get logic if you tell them that it is a super-power that they can acquire.

As to ego, your point is spot on. Real scientists (not used ironically) try to disprove their own theories. "Hey Jane, look over this please. I've tried angle A and perspective B and attack C and I haven't found a flaw yet. See if you can find one."

But the poorly educated and the less intelligent (lower 50% by whatever reasonable measure) tend to look for evidence that supports their position and they think that is what scientists do.

They tend to otherize themselves and reject attempts to reach out to them. Sealing off contradictory information is part of the psychology of over-confidence in knowledge. Part of this is the cumulative effect of having been found wrong more times than their smarter peers; so a kind of coping mechanism: childhood peers can be brutal.


All the same, there is a large portion of the "poorly educated and less intelligent" who rank in the top quartile of wisdom. The ones who work hard all their lives, raise their children to have better lives than their own, and who die having left the world better for their existence. They may not as often know "why" things are the way they are but they often understand better the "what" and the "how" of the way things are.