LSC’s Dietram Scheufele co-edits handbook on the science of science communication

Friday June 16th, the Oxford University Press released The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication. The book, co-edited by LSC professor Dietram ScheufeleKathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dan Kahan of Yale Law School, provides a comprehensive overview of the current issues and challenges facing science communication.

Dietram holds a copy of The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication at the Oxford University Press book display at ICA’s annual conference.

The handbook features essays from the leading scholars in science communication including LSC professor and chair Dominique Brossard and LSC faculty affiliate Michael Xenos. Many LSC alumni also contributed including Heather Akin(who will be an assistant professor at the University of Missouri this fall), Nan Li of Texas Tech University, and Sara K. Yeo of the University of Utah.

“For a long time, the scientific community has relied on intuition rather than empirical data when it came to communicating the value of science to different political and public audiences,” says Scheufele.  “The handbook brings together some of the very best social scientists whose work helps us approach science communication from a truly scientific perspective.”

The handbook provides case studies of past science communication successes and failures, and identifies human biases that often affect the ways in which scientific information is processed.  In addition, the book takes the next step and provides ways to overcome biases – such as selective exposure, motivated reasoning and the availability heuristic – and discusses how these biases are exacerbated by the changing media environment.

More information and purchase information is available at the Oxford University Press.