ABSTRACT
It is a sad fact of our “post-truth” era that science denial – about topics such as climate change, evolution, vaccines, and even the shape of the Earth – has been on the rise. Given concerns about whether providing evidence to ideologues may “backfire,” however, many people (including some scientists) have been reluctant to fight back. Recent work has shown that such concerns are overblown and that it can be quite effective even for laypeople to push back. But how? Of course, scientists are most skilled at providing specialized content arguments. But the fact that all forms of science denial are rooted in the same basic principles of flawed reasoning provides a second avenue even for non-specialists to fight back. In this chapter, I explore the question of whether both of these techniques might be most effective if pursued in person, on the theory that at least part of belief is based on identity, trust, and values. While this sort of face-to-face encounter may be anathema to those who prefer to keep science deniers at arm’s length, we must be careful not to remain aloof from the most effective methods, else we risk denying the science of how to fight science denial itself.
