We would like to invite you to our colloquium, “Objective and Subjective Knowledge: “Feeling the truth” and its Importance for Science Communication,” on December 12th at 13:00 (German time).
In this talk, Dr. Helen Fischer will discuss the relevance of objective and subjective knowledge (“Feeling the truth”) for attitudes towards controversial and politicized science such as climate change or COVID-19. She will also show how objective and subjective knowledge shape behavior and why science communicators should be aware of “truthiness,” the phenomenon that some statements ring true irrespective of evidence.
Dr. Helen Fischer is a postdoctoral researcher at the IWM (Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien), working in the Perception and Action research group. Her research focuses on the role of metacognition, specifically insight into the limits of one’s own knowledge, in shaping beliefs about politicized science topics such as climate change and COVID-19. She is also involved in various projects exploring the importance of metacognition in recognizing one’s own thinking biases, such as motivated information processing and in information dissemination in social networks.
Dr. Fischer completed her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Heidelberg in 2016. She has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Heidelberg and Heidelberg University Hospital, working on projects related to public perception of climate change. In 2019, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). She has also worked at the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden and was a guest researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. She was involved in the Lancet Countdown on Climate Change and Health in 2018, specifically in media coverage of health and climate change, and completed a research visit at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
This is an online event carried out in English. However, questions in German are also welcomed. We look forward to your participation in our lively after-talk discussion! Please register here in advance: https://lmu-munich.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5codO-rrTspGtL8F9oIxLyb-6-z8clkSsFA
More information on each colloquium will be sent to our mailing list as the dates approach. Here you can subscribe to our email list: https://www.mscl.de/mailing-list/ .
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or ideas about possible topics and speakers.