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The effect of ad hominem attacks on the evaluation of claims promoted by scientists
Ralph M. Barnes Heather M. Johnston Noah MacKenzie Stephanie Tobin Chelsea M. Taglang
Ralph M. Barnes
Heather M. Johnston
Noah MacKenzie
Stephanie Tobin
Chelsea M. Taglang
Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to determine the relative impact of direct and indirect (ad hominem) attacks on science claims. Four hundred and thirty-nine college students (Experiment 1) and 199 adults (Experiment 2) read a series of science claims and indicated their attitudes towards those claims. Each claim was paired with one of the following: A) a direct attack upon the empirical basis of the science claim B) an ad hominem attack on the scientist who made the claim or C) both. Results indicate that ad hominem attacks may have the same degree of impact as attacks on the empirical basis of the science claims, and that allegations of conflict of interest may be just as influential as allegations of outright fraud.
Keywords
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
PLoS ONE
Book
Volume
13
Issue
1
Page Range
1-15
Article Number
ACU Department
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open