Skip to main content

Arthur Lupia, University of Michigan

Uninformed: Why People Know So Little About Politics and What We Can Do About It: Arthur Lupia is the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor in the Department of Political Science at University of Michigan. Abstract: Thousands of individuals and organizations work to educate others. They seek to improve political knowledge and civic competence. A common challenge associated with educating others is a misunderstanding about how people learn. This talk, based on the new book Uninformed: Why People Know So Little About Politics and What We Can Do About It, shows that many of these errors are correctable. In this talk, Dr. Lupia seeks to clarify the relationship between information that we can give to other people, the kinds of knowledge that they can acquire from this information, and how such knowledge affects competence at politically relevant tasks. He then uses lessons from this research to identify more effective ways to convey information that matters. This presentation seeks to help educators of all kinds convey information that is of more value to more people.