Between Evidence and Emotions: Emotional Appeals in Science Communication

Abstract

In the field of science communication, there is currently a great deal of discussion on how individuals can be reached, not only through fact-oriented communication, but also through emotional appeals and ‘edutainment’ approaches. This discussion has been further intensified by the changing conditions of new media environments. From an academic viewpoint, the discussion is often met with scepticism. However, categorical statements about a supposed dichotomy of emotion and rationality are misleading. What is needed are differentiated arguments and analyses. Nevertheless, emotions in science communication are an often overseen research field. With this thematic issue, we seek to enrich the scientific discourse by providing research from authors coming from different perspectives using different concepts, methods, and cases. In this editorial, we summarise the contribution of ten different articles on three levels: (1) emotions of science communicators, (2) emotional(ised) content, and (3) emotions of science communication audiences.

Eine Frage der Erwartungen?

“…Huber und Aichberger 2020 ; Lidskog et al. 2020 ; Taddicken und Reif 2020 ). In welchem Verhältnis sich Emotionen und Informationen beziehungsweise Wissen zueinander befinden, inwieweit Emotionen in der Kommunikation notwendig sind und wie diese vom Publikum wahrgenommen werden, wird beispielsweise bereits im Kontext der Klimawandeldarstellung intensiv untersucht (vgl.…”

Conceptualizing science communication in flux — a framework for analyzing science communication in a digital media environment

“…Refers to the specific way in which content is presented and/or perceived [cf. Taddicken and Reif, 2020].…”

Communicating astronomy with the public: perspectives of an international community of practice

“…Projects involving storytelling, where this kind of cooperation has shown several advantages to research and practice likewise, may also offer interesting opportunities [Riedlinger et al, 2019]. Yet another example is research on emotions and emotional appeals in the context of science communication, which suggests that they can be an instrument to promote action and a significant predictor of perceived trustworthiness [Reif et al, 2020;Taddicken and Reif, 2020]. This may be useful to confirm if interest (e.g.…”