DENIAL OF SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC FACTS
WHAT IS THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND DENIALISM?
WHAT DRIVES PEOPLE TO REJECT THE TRUTH?
“Science is the knowledge of consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another.” -Tomas Hobbes
Today we live in a world of rampant denial of scientific facts and the truth of just about everything. To count a few, the creation of the universe (the big bang theory), the creation of life on earth (Darwinian theory of biological evolution), climate change, childhood vaccinations, free press, the COVID – 19 pandemic and many others.
Denial of facts never cease to amaze me, as to why only certain people become deniers? What kind of mindset do they have? What kind of thinking and psychological fallacies drive them to deny the truth? Isn’t the truth self–evident?
As I see it, denial is the product of irrational thinking and reasoning induced belief system that erases the truth from one’s consciousness, so that he/she doesn’t have to deal with the consequences of the truth. The truth, for many people is difficult to deal with.
Denialism is often incorrigible. It is a product of the mind, culture, upbringing, religious dogmas and human nature - just like the faith. Therefore, it can’t be corrected with truth directed methods of persuasion, scientific facts, evidence or arguments.
I personally have no problem with denialism in its pure form, as long as it doesn’t harm other people or society at large. If it does, then there has to be legal consequences across the board.
What I have problem with is pretentious use of denialism for self-interest by sales peoples, con men and politicians to lie and to deceit people so they can achieve their aim.
I am not a psychologist, but when I search and study denialism in order to understand deniers’ psychology, mindset and value system, I came across a statement by a famous child psychologist and psychoanalyst, Anna Freud that I disagree with. Anna Freud (no relation to Sigmund Freud) is an Austrian born, British raised child psychologist who coined the term that “denialism is body’s defense mechanism.” By refusing to acknowledge the reality, we block the truth from our consciousness so that we can prevent stress and anxiety.
As clinical practitioner, I often encountered that many of my patients initially deny the existence of their diagnosis (especially if it was a deadly diagnosis) for the purpose of temporary comfort until they figured out what to do.
To me, a defense mechanism is genetically acquired protective reflex mechanism, and is only triggered when we face a sudden danger or death threat (the external stressor). Our body immediately produces copious amount of stress hormones by neuro-chemical mechanisms, thereby inducing a “fight-or-flight” reaction. Unless we stretch the definition of defense mechanism to include temporary comfort by denial of a fact, which is not exactly a “fight – or – flight” reaction.
There is also pretentious denial of the truth to project a tough self image by some people. And there are also “copy cat” deniers, who often say that since President Trump isn’t wearing a face mask, why should they wear one?
The real make believe and dangerous science deniers are those who are called pseudoscientists. They would sell their soul for a price or just to please the master. Pseudoscientists should not be easily dismissed. They are highly educated and smart. They know that there is always an area of uncertainty in scientific studies, and scientific research builds knowledge in a progressive manner by depending on previous data and facts. They try to apply the concept of proof in science. Proof only exists in math. Science has compelling evidence based facts. Science deniers try to exploit the difference between proof and compelling evidence. They always look at the scientific data with a simple black or white (dichotomous) thinking. The data for them is either certain or inconclusive. And they magnify uncertainty in scientific data.
For example, climate change deniers state that we do not know all climate related variables; but they pay more attention to 3% of climate scientists’ findings that state, “human activities do not cause climate change.” They neglect to mention these scientists receive funding from the fossil fuel industry. Yet, 97% of climate scientists believe that human activities are the main cause of global warming.
Another example is Autism. Autism is not an immunologic disease, it has nothing to do with childhood vaccinations. But an article published in a secondary medical journal raised the possibility of vaccination causing autism, became widespread knowledge in social media, in religious circles and made many parents to avoid vaccinating their kids.
No doubt the truth eventually would speak for itself and crash on the face of deniers with a vengeance, but then it could be too late to do anything.
