This paper is relevant to some of the recent discussion on ECOLOG-L. Science 18 May 2007: Vol. 316. no. 5827, pp. 996 - 997 DOI: 10.1126/science.1133398
Childhood Origins of Adult Resistance to Science Paul Bloom and Deena Skolnick Weisberg Resistance to certain scientific ideas derives in large part from assumptions and biases that can be demonstrated experimentally in young children and that may persist into adulthood. In particular, both adults and children resist acquiring scientific information that clashes with common-sense intuitions about the physical and psychological domains. Additionally, when learning information from other people, both adults and children are sensitive to the trustworthiness of the source of that information. Resistance to science, then, is particularly exaggerated in societies where nonscientific ideologies have the advantages of being both grounded in common sense and transmitted by trustworthy sources.
