Caitlin Otten

Caitlin Drummond Otten is an Assistant Professor of Decision Science in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. Her research examines how individuals understand and use scientific evidence when forming judgments and making decisions, with particular interest in decisions regarding sustainability and the environment. One of her major lines of research asks how individuals’ ability to reason critically about scientific evidence interacts with social and motivational factors to predict their usage of and trust in scientific evidence, especially on controversial scientific topics such as climate change. The overall goals of her research program are to illuminate the cognitive, social and motivational processes involved in evaluating and using scientific evidence, and investigate ways to improve science-relevant decision-making in environment and sustainability contexts.