But don't take my word for it, consider this editorial from the Journal of the American Medical Association; see: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1675581&utm_source=Silverchair%20Information%20Systems&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=JAMA%3AOnlineFirst04%2F04%2F2013
The article identifies four factors for why funding biomedical research is in danger (there's no increase in funding this coming year and the sequestration is cutting about 5.1% of current funding). Of course, this will affect psychology in a variety of ways from neuroscience research to research on psychopathology. So, what's the teaching of psychology have to do with it? Consider the first reason for the erosion of support for funding: |First, there is increasing politicization of science in general. |Despite the massive explanatory power of science and the |ability of scientific discovery to create amazing inventions that |have positively transformed many lives-from computers and |cell phones to vaccines and robotic prosthetics-there is an |increasing uncertainty in the United States about the value of |science. Recent polls show that 46% of Americans believe |that human beings were created "pretty much in their present |form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so."3 One |researcher reported that while "public trust in science has not |declined since the 1970s except among conservatives and |those who frequently attend church," there has still been a |significant "politicization" of science.4 Politicization of science |means that federal funding of science is more contentious and |can no longer be considered an area of bipartisan agreement. Here is the report from Gallup on Americans with anti-evolution beliefs: http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/hold-creationist-view-human-origins.aspx NOTE: the percentage of people who are anti-evolution has stayed more or less the same for the past 30 years that this polling has been done. Even 46% of college graduates are anti-evolution. What are we doing wrong? -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=24762 or send a blank email to leave-24762-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
