Agnotology facts for kids

Agnotology is a special area of study. It looks at how doubt or a lack of knowledge about certain topics can be made on purpose. For example, this can happen when scientific studies use information that is not correct or is confusing. Sometimes, the more you learn about something, the more unsure you become. Agnotology helps us understand why this happens.

What is Agnotology?

The word "agnotology" is a new term. It was created by Robert N. Proctor. He is a professor at Stanford University. Professor Proctor studies the history of science and technology.

He gave a good example of agnotology. The tobacco industry tried to make people doubt the dangers of tobacco use. They wanted to hide the link between tobacco and cancer. The industry paid for studies that looked scientific. But these studies focused on everything except the real health risks. This made the public unsure about the dangers of smoking.

How is Doubt Created?

Doubt can be created in many ways.

• Sometimes, the way the media covers a story can be used to create a lack of knowledge.
• Companies or governments might hide facts.
• They might even force facts to be removed if they have been shared.

They use different methods to do this. These methods include:

• Censorship: This means stopping information from being shared.
• Destroying documents: Getting rid of important papers.
• Changing facts: Making some facts seem more or less important than they are.
• Being careless or forgetful: Not paying attention to important details.

Why is Knowledge Hidden or Delayed?

Agnotology also looks at why some knowledge does not appear. It studies why some facts are ignored or shared much later.

For instance, information about plate tectonics was kept secret for about ten years. Plate tectonics is about how the Earth's large plates move. Key evidence for this was secret military information. It was related to undersea warfare. So, this important scientific knowledge was delayed because it was classified.

Images for kids

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  U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) holding a snowball on the Senate floor during a speech in which he said climate change was a hoax.

See also

In Spanish: Agnotología para niños