Séminaire de Tiffany Morisseau: When accuracy matters and when it doesn’t: motivational factors of epistemic vigilance towards scientific information.

Jeudi 11 Mars 2021

Résumé

In this presentation, I start by making a quick review of the different research avenues that have been explored in cognitive psychology relative to people’s consumption of misinformation and its consequences for trust in scientific information. I then explore a complementary perspective, drawing on the idea that citizens are in fact able to question doubtful information they encounter in the media, when truth matters from their point of view. I present two hypotheses: First, that the decision-making relevance of scientific information can be small from the individual point of view. Second, that any piece of information, including scientific information, can become relevant regardless of its accuracy, when emotional and social stakes come into play. Finally, I suggest some practical implications that can be derived from these hypotheses.

Biosketch de la chercheuse

Tiffany Morisseau is a researcher in Cognitive Psychology and Research Manager at Strane Innovation (strane-innovation.com). Since January 2021, she is affiliated with the Laboratory of Applied Psychology and Ergonomics (LaPEA, University of Paris). She holds a Master’s degree in Management from AUDENCIA Business School (Nantes, France) and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Lyon. Her current research projects mainly focus on the question of epistemic trust and vigilance, and the socio-cognitive mechanisms underlying how people come to process scientific information.

She is a member of the H2020 PERITIA consortium (peritia-trust.eu) and leads the Psychology part. This multidisciplinary project deals with the conditions of public trust in scientific experts and brings together researchers in philosophy, psychology, political science and media science.