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Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
An 'outgroup' public won't trust a progressive 'ingroup' psychology
1Cardiff University, School of Psychology, Tower Building, 70 Park Place, CF10 3AT, UK.
Abstract:
Identitarian progressivism has become the public face of institutional psychological science. Masking the diverse perspectives within our field, these single-minded expressions have two trust-related implications: reinforcing 'ingroup' trust among a progressive activist cohort within our science, while evoking mistrust from an 'outgroup' public that -to an overwhelming extent- does not share their views. Given the predominant role of taxpayers in funding our research, we should be concerned that the voting public may justifiably perceive our science as emphasizing activist visions of what should be over the empirical complexities of what is. Ensuring public trust will depend on re-embracing persuasive intellectual humility and eschewing the identitarian vernacular and deficit model pedagogy that currently characterizes our public-facing messaging.
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