David Ropeik
Grist
Boston, MA, United States
Contact David
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Past articles by David:
It’s time for climate change communicators to listen to social science
Writers like David Wallace-Wells try to persuade with facts. Cognitive science suggests there's a better way. → Read More
People’s Fears About Vaccines Aren’t Just About Vaccines
The anti-vaccine movement understood through the lens of moral foundations theory. → Read More
What We Can Learn From The Recent Shark Attacks On Cape Cod
Massachusetts' first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years is tragic. It can also teach us something about managing risk, writes David Ropeik. → Read More
Humans Are Bad at Understanding Risk. California’s Coffee-May-Cause-Cancer Signs Won’t Help.
The warnings are based on several layers of misunderstanding. → Read More
Cancerphobia: Our Changing Emotional Relationship With 'The Big C'
Cancerphobia has been with us for a long time. David Ropeik, an author on the gaps between how risky things are and how much we fear them, says it's time to put it to rest. → Read More
Fear of radiation is more dangerous than radiation itself
The fear of ionising (nuclear) radiation is deeply ingrained in the public psyche. For reasons partly historical and partly psychological, we simply assume that any exposure to ionising radiation is dangerous. The dose doesn’t matter. The nature o... → Read More
Citizen science often overstates 'cancer clusters' like the one linked to artificial turf
Cancer clusters like the one seen among athletes who played soccer on artificial turf look compelling — and scary at first — but often turn out to be false. → Read More
Why the March for Science failed, as demonstrated by its own protest signs
The March for Science succeeded in many ways. It called out the growing and dangerous tendency of people to reject facts simply because they don’t like them. It made the case for decision-making… → Read More
David Ropeik
I teach, consult in, write and speak about the psychology that explains why we worry about some things more than we need to, and don't worry about some things as much as we should. I wrote "How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don't Always Match the Facts', to help society appreciate all we have learned about why we worry too much or not enough, and how that creates a Risk Perception Gap that… → Read More
We Need to Educate the Public about Dirty Bombs
The fear of radiation such a weapon could spread is far more harmful than the radiation itself → Read More
The Great Zika Freak Out. A Teaching Moment in the Psychology of Fear
A new disease with an exotic name, Zika virus, is spreading "explosively" around the world. It may be causing babies to be born with shrunken heads and brains. No one has immunity. Experts admit si... → Read More
The Great Zika Freak-Out. A Teaching Moment in the Psychology of Fear.
An unfamiliar new threat that harms babies, that we can't protect ourselves from, that experts don't fully understand, and about which the media is blaring loud alarms; Zika virus has several powerful emotional characteristics that make any potential danger feel much more dangerous than it might actually be. → Read More
THEY Lost. WE Won. What Pronouns Reveal about Human Behavior.
Super Bowl season illustrates a deep part of who we are, not just as sports fans. → Read More
Did the Maker of SpaghettiOs Just Punk the Anti-GMO Movement?
The Campbell Soup Company says it will go ahead and label foods that contain GMO ingredients, breaking industry ranks on the issue holding up wider adoption of agricultural biotechnology. → Read More
Two Letters to President Obama About Gun Control
The battle over gun control is really about fear. → Read More
Why Has 2015 Felt Like a Year of Fear, if We're So Safe?
Living longer, but worrying more. Why? → Read More
Is Naomi Oreskes Using the Same Merchant of Doubt Tactics She Criticizes?
There is a lot of hypocrisy in the way Naomi Oreskes attacks four renowned climate scientists. → Read More
Is The World Is Ready to Get Serious About Climate Change? The Paris Agreement Says Non.
Insufficient commitments to carbon cuts, and a process to encourage deeper cuts that is only voluntary, are bad news for our future. → Read More
Tribe Trump. How Fear Makes Us Bigots, and Puts Us At Risk
When we're worried identifying with our in-groups feels safe. Demonizing others feels reassuring. → Read More
Gun Rights Activists Say Gun Control Is Unconstitutional. Antonin Scalia Disagrees.
The Second Amendment is “... not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” → Read More