Using a Reconciliation Module to Change Minds about COVID-19

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Scientific skepticism surrounding COVID-19 precautionary behaviors was a leading controversy during the pandemic. A reconciliation module has been shown to help individuals accept scientific data while still maintaining core beliefs. This module, commonly used in evolution education research, consists of taking measures to reduce conflict, emphasize the nature of science, and teach students the facts. The aim of this research was to evaluate the impact of this module on college students’ willingness to follow COVID-19 precautions in order to increase the awareness and implementation of these behaviors. We created a reconciliation module consisting of videos made by local community members. This module was then incorporated into a survey, where participants indicated if they changed their minds from the videos, and if they found the presenter respectful or relatable. There were also open-ended questions where students were able to expand on their responses. We found that the most indicative reason why students changed their view on the controversy of COVID-19 was that the presenter communicated new information to the student that they did not previously know, or cleared up something they did not understand. Investigating if presenters were relatable or not, the most common response was that the presenter was relatable due to a shared ideology between the presenter and student. Given the results, we propose that helping students understand scientific information is a key step in addressing controversial topics in science. However, this information is most influential when the instructor is perceived to be relatable. We discuss how instructors can apply these findings to help students whose cultural background differs from their own.