The role of epistemic drift in online civic discourse about science

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dc.contributor.authorLewandowsky, Stephan
dc.contributor.authorGarcia, David
dc.date.accessioned2026-01-20T07:58:59Z
dc.date.available2026-01-20T07:58:59Z
dc.date.issued2026-04
dc.description.abstractOur societies are experiencing an epistemic drift, that is a changing understanding of what it means to be “honest” and how to arrive at “truth”. This drift has increasingly replaced reliance on evidence and facts during truth-seeking with reliance on beliefs, feelings, and intuitions alone. This is especially important in civic discourse about science, which by its very nature relies on evidence over intuition and feelings. We posit that the role of epistemic drift in civic discourse about science is observable in online discussions and can be analyzed through their digital traces. Building on observational and experimental work, we propose a model in which epistemic drift fuels low-quality information sharing through its interplay with emotions. In this view, epistemic drift also drives online toxicity, which creates apparent polarization and erodes the quality of online civic discourse on scientific topics like health and climate change.
dc.description.versionpublisheddeu
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.copsyc.2026.102266
dc.identifier.ppn1949658236
dc.identifier.urihttps://kops.uni-konstanz.de/handle/123456789/75762
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject.ddc320
dc.titleThe role of epistemic drift in online civic discourse about scienceeng
dc.typeJOURNAL_ARTICLE
dspace.entity.typePublication
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@article{Lewandowsky2026-04epist-75762,
  title={The role of epistemic drift in online civic discourse about science},
  year={2026},
  doi={10.1016/j.copsyc.2026.102266},
  volume={68},
  issn={2352-250X},
  journal={Current Opinion in Psychology},
  author={Lewandowsky, Stephan and Garcia, David},
  note={Article Number: 102266}
}
kops.citation.iso690LEWANDOWSKY, Stephan, David GARCIA, 2026. The role of epistemic drift in online civic discourse about science. In: Current Opinion in Psychology. Elsevier. 2026, 68, 102266. ISSN 2352-250X. eISSN 2352-2518. Verfügbar unter: doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2026.102266deu
kops.citation.iso690LEWANDOWSKY, Stephan, David GARCIA, 2026. The role of epistemic drift in online civic discourse about science. In: Current Opinion in Psychology. Elsevier. 2026, 68, 102266. ISSN 2352-250X. eISSN 2352-2518. Available under: doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2026.102266eng
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kops.sourcefield.plainCurrent Opinion in Psychology. Elsevier. 2026, 68, 102266. ISSN 2352-250X. eISSN 2352-2518. Available under: doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2026.102266eng
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