Letter to the Editors of Psychological Science: Boosting Understanding is Unlikely to Correct False Beliefs About Most Science Domains: Regarding van Stekelenburg et al. (2021)

Van Stekelenburg and colleagues (2021) show that boosting understanding of scientific consensus reduces false beliefs about genetically modified foods (GMOs). Specifically, demonstrating the value of scientific consensus and providing information about scientific consensus on GMOs helps to correct misperceptions about GMOs being harmful. However, this technique is ineffective in reducing climate change misbeliefs. This is not surprising. We argue that the reported strategy, being a knowledge-based technique, has limited applicability to other contentious science domains. This is because misperceptions of such domains often do not involve poor science knowledge, but rather specific ideologies.