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Research Article

Communicating science in social settings

Dietram A. Scheufele
PNAS August 20, 2013 110 (Supplement 3) 14040-14047; first published August 12, 2013 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1213275110
Dietram A. Scheufele
Department of Life Sciences Communication, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
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  • For correspondence: scheufele@gmail.com
  1. Edited by Baruch Fischhoff, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, and accepted by the Editorial Board July 1, 2013 (received for review April 29, 2013)

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Abstract

This essay examines the societal dynamics surrounding modern science. It first discusses a number of challenges facing any effort to communicate science in social environments: lay publics with varying levels of preparedness for fully understanding new scientific breakthroughs; the deterioration of traditional media infrastructures; and an increasingly complex set of emerging technologies that are surrounded by a host of ethical, legal, and social considerations. Based on this overview, I discuss four areas in which empirical social science helps clarify intuitive but sometimes faulty assumptions about the social-level mechanisms of science communication and outline an agenda for bench and social scientists—driven by current social-scientific research in the field of science communication—to guide more effective communication efforts at the societal level in the future.

  • public opinion
  • mass media
  • journalism
  • communication theory

Footnotes

  • ↵1E-mail: scheufele{at}gmail.com.
  • Author contributions: D.A.S. wrote the paper.

  • The author declares no conflict of interest.

  • This paper results from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences, “The Science of Science Communication,” held May 21–22, 2012, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. The complete program and audio files of most presentations are available on the NAS Web site at www.nasonline.org/science-communication.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. B.F. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.

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Communicating science in social settings
Dietram A. Scheufele
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2013, 110 (Supplement 3) 14040-14047; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1213275110

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Communicating science in social settings
Dietram A. Scheufele
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2013, 110 (Supplement 3) 14040-14047; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1213275110
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 116 (49)
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Science in Modern Communication Environments
    • Science–Public Interfaces: Intuition vs. Social Science
    • A Few Areas That Require Us to Rethink Our Assumptions—and the Empirical Social Science That Tells Us Why
    • Dynamic Nature of the Science–Society Interface
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