Lay science's epistemology and socioscientific controversies

Science education is generally perceived as a key facilitator in cultivating a scientifically literate society. In the last decade, however, this conventional wisdom has been challenged by evidence that greater scientific literacy and critical thinking skills may in fact inadvertently aggravate polarization on scientific matters in the public sphere. The "conflict of interests hypothesis" posits that individuals, when shaping their beliefs about socioscientific controversies, often face a dilemma in which their political and ideological affiliations clash with the pursuit of truth. In this predicament, individuals with a deeper understanding of science might use these abilities instead to their ideological advantage. Supporting an alternative "scientific update hypothesis", in a series of studies we show that increased science's epistemology literacy might have consequential population level effects on the public’s alignment with scientific results.