Dealing With Uncertain Futures: Communicating Scientific Modeling in the Public Sphere - A Systematic Review

  • This article systematically reviews research on public engagement with models of future developments, such as pandemic forecasting or climate change projections. It examines how different actors and stakeholders interpret (often motivated) and communicate (often strategically) scientific uncertainties. So far, lay decision-makers have been studied mostly as receivers. They can handle uncertainty best when expressed in numbers, such as probabilities. In contrast, communicators often fail to provide such information, partly due to misunderstandings about their audience’s needs. The biggest research gaps concern how scientific uncertainty is portrayed by stakeholders in the public sphere, especially on social media.
Metadaten
Author:Signe E. FillerORCiD, Berend Barkela, Michaela MaierORCiD, Stephan Winter, Christian von Sikorski
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:386-kluedo-133301
Parent Title (English):Science Communication
Publisher:Sage
Document Type:Article
Language of publication:English
Date of Publication (online):2026/10/02
Year of first Publication:2026
Publishing Institution:Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau
Date of the Publication (Server):2026/07/13
Page Number:35
Source:10.1177/10755470251413493
Faculties / Organisational entities:Landau - Fachbereich Psychologie
DDC-Cassification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 300 Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie
Collections:Open-Access-Publikationsfonds
Licence (German):Lizenz nach Originalpublikation