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Science fatigue keeps us clinging to bad health habits

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The World Health Organization (WHO) threw the cat among the pigeons last week with linking eating red and processed meat to cancer.
It didn鈥檛 claim our way of life is killing us, but it would seem this way from the reactions. , for instance, said the WHO would have humans living in caves were we to follow all its recommendations.
This response is all too familiar and highlights the public鈥檚 fundamental misunderstanding of how science works. Two issues stand in the way of, and often override, sensible interpretations of research findings 鈥� science fatigue and confirmation bias.

Science fatigue

The media constantly bombards us with the latest research on a plethora of topics without much nuance on its quality or relevance.
Last year red wine was good, this year it鈥檚 bad. Last month , this month . Today you need more protein, tomorrow you need more carbohydrates.
This apparent seesaw in health journalism creates science fatigue in the public mind. The underlying science for most of these reports is sound, but as a suggests, the reporting is often irresponsible and out to click-bait an unsuspecting public:

A problem that is worsening in this era of the 24/7 news cycle is the frequent failure to put new developments into any kind of reasonable context for readers or viewers. In this environment, reporters become little more than headline readers or conduct interviews that amount to a 鈥渉it and run鈥� version of journalism.

The constant hype and erodes the integrity of scientific research. How can science be trusted if it can鈥檛 make up its mind?
All too often the is not clear. Effectively engaging the public in often specialised scientific findings is and has been a challenge for the media, governments and science for some time.
A into the country鈥檚 mad cow disease outbreak in the 1990s concluded that a government department had provided inappropriate technical advice about the link between contaminated beef and human health. It said the departments' communication had provoked an 鈥渋rrational public scare鈥�.
A barrage of similar instances has created a crying wolf scenario, particularly when journalists and public relations operators report certain studies as the final word. When the real wolf appears (like last week鈥檚 WHO meat evaluation) we brush it away as insignificant and continue our existing behaviours.

Confirmation bias

Recently a family friend pronounced that his grandmother smoked all her life and reached the ripe old age of 90, so he is not worried about his 鈥渕oderate鈥� smoking habit. His grandmother may have had the potential to reach 120 as a non-smoker, but numerous other variables could have influenced the final result for her.
All too often, we base important health decisions on personal anecdotal experience. The plural of anecdote is not data, yet we grasp at any straw that reinforces our own opinions so we can maintain our status quo. This is called .
In an extensive review of this phenomenon, American psychologist Raymond Nickerson contends it might in fact be the single most problematic aspect of human reasoning.

鈥�once one has taken a position on an issue, one鈥檚 primary purpose becomes that of defending or justifying that position. This is to say that regardless of whether one鈥檚 treatment of evidence was evenhanded before the stand was taken, it can become highly biased afterward.

Numerous studies have explained confirmation bias as it applies to all kinds of fundamental situations. For instance, we tend to seek out likely to reinforce what we already believe in, and we the evidence in ways that support what we already believe.
Even the pressure to publish can create a which influences the objectivity and integrity of research.
A review of publications and related biases by the British National Institute for Health Research that studies with significant or favourable results were more likely to be published or cited that those with non-significant or unfavourable results.
When our meat eating 鈥� which is seen as such a fundamental part of our existence, our culture, our economy and maybe even our identity 鈥� is attacked, we resort to confirmation bias and often use personal anecdotes as a counter attack.
Certainly anecdotes in health care shouldn鈥檛 be ignored, but together with formal, research evidence.

Scientists aren鈥檛 exempt

The American Dietetic Association that meat is not required for a healthy diet. Yet we have heard many experts say otherwise. In some cases, this could be because it is part of the social fabric of our society, and scientists aren鈥檛 exempt from bias.
A that when scientists were put in situations where they were expected to be an expert or see themselves as experts, they tended to over-estimate the accuracy of their own beliefs.
Even if these beliefs stem from a knowledge in their field, the tendency to cling to prior opinions increases the likelihood of bias.
Thankfully, once we are able to overcome our fatigue and biases, and reasonably consider the latest evidence, we can steer ourselves in a direction where the risk of cancer is lower without any knee-jerk reactions.

, PhD Candidate in Social Psychology,
This article was originally published on . Read the .