This article in Mind from Scientific American discusses research by Cornelia Betsch and Philipp Schmid at the University of Erfurt (Germany) on the effectiveness of debating techniques in countering the impact of anti-science arguments. The techniques studied fell into two categories: topic rebuttal and technique rebuttal. Both were found to be equally effective although the Mind article notes that technique rebuttal is easier because you don't have to be a subject matter expert in the topic at hand. The Mind article also notes that the study by Betsch and Schmid did not find a "backfire effect" where the act of addressing the anti-science debaters legitimizes their argument.
Anti-science debaters use many of the same techniques regardless of the topic under discussion. A variety of denial techniques are discussed in this paper including use of: (1) conspiracy theories, (2) fake experts, (3) cherry picking data or citations, (4) making impossible demands of certainty or precision, and (5) logical fallacies and/or misrepresentations.
Also interesting: an educational game that teaches you how fake news is made (spawned?) by making you into a master faker. Kind of fun.... https://getbadnews.com/#intro
M. Eachus
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