Have you ever heard of authority bias? On Instagram @AndreaHardyRD, I talk all about the tendency to attribute grater accuracy and weight to the opinion of an authority figure.

  • Image of @andreahardyrd Instagram post about authority bias

????????‍????This bias is one of the HARDEST to recognize ????????‍????(#scicommunity Thursday)⁠⠀
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It’s easier to spot when someone with authority speaks to a topic they’re not an expert on… ⁠⠀
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Gwenyth Paltrow and all her tips and tricks for a healthy vagina, or The Medical Medium and digestion – to name a few.????⁠⠀
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But what happens when the authority figure should, in fact, be qualified to speak toward that topic yet is spewing misinformation everywhere?
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We have experts telling people to ‘listen to the experts!’ ⁠⠀
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and… I agree in principle but 1) telling people what to do is notoriously a bad idea 2) some credentialed experts don’t.value.science. ⁠⠀
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People ask me ‘where should I get my nutrition information from?’ and I say ‘dietitians’… but what happens when a dietitian on Instagram shares their opinions and beliefs, instead of science or scientific consensus?⁠⠀
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And… what happens when it feeds into your personal biases?⁠⠀
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???? It reinforces what we already believe. ????⁠⠀
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From MIT computer scientist Stephanie Seneff pushing and publishing unscientific ‘research’ (you can’t call it that, it’s rhetoric) about pesticides and autism, to America’s Frontline Doctors promoting treatments for COVID that have been shown in research now to NOT be helpful – it’s SO frickin hard to know what is real and what isn’t.⁠⠀
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I don’t have all the answers here. ⁠⠀
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But I DO have my TEDx Talk called ‘Quit Killing Human Connection With Science: Making Patient Care Meaningful’ on how yelling at people to ‘listen to the experts, don’t do your own research’ isn’t enough. ⁠⠀
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Link in profile to listen! ⁠⠀