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Abstract: There is a worryingly large chasm between scientific consensus and popular opinion. For example, roughly a third of Australians disagree that humans are primarily responsible for climate change, and progress in responding to COVID-19 has been slowed by misinformation, anti-science conspiracy theories, and organized antivaxx movements. It is easy to assume that resistance to an evidence-based message is a result of ignorance or failure to grasp evidence. But increasingly theorists understand there are limits to this approach, and that if people are motivated to reject science then repeating evidence will have little impact. To create a trans-theoretical language for describing these underlying motivations, I describe the notion of "attitude roots": underlying fears, ideologies, and identity needs that sustain and motivate specific "surface" attitudes like climate skepticism and vaccine hesitancy. Evidence for the role of these attitude roots is drawn from large-scale international studies. I then use these insights to develop a "jiu jitsu" model of persuasion that places emphasis on creating change by aligning with (rather than competing with) these attitude roots. 

Bio: Matthew Homsey is a Professor of social psychology in the UQ Business School. He has published over 170 papers, mostly on themes of intergroup communication; trust and trust repair; and sustainability and climate change. His most recent work focuses on understanding (and reducing) people's motivations to reject scientific consensus (e.g., the psychology of conspiracy beliefs, climate skepticism, and vaccine hesitancy). His work has been highlighted in hundreds of media articles, including in the NY Times, LA Times, The Guardian, and Huffington Post. In 2018 he was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.