Randy Olson's "Don't Be SUCH a Scientist," Chapter 2: Don't Be So Literal Minded

 

Scientists think they can just explain the facts and their point is made.

This chapter is all about how it's never that simple.

From a media campaign called "Shifting Baselines" to a story about an intelligent design debate that end up with "expressions of resentment and looks that seemed to say, 'You think you're such a smarty-pants'" to the Pew Oceans Commission's report, this entire chapter is about how "science think" can go wrong. People just aren't moved by the head; they want the heart, too.

After all, think about how movies spend just as much on marketing as they do on the movies themselves. Or how successful advocacy and policy groups spend so much on lobbying. It's at least partially about communication. Sure, you have to have a good product, but without good communication, the good product can't succeed.

He says,

Sometimes, particularly with the mass audience, pepole don't want their information told to them directly. You can pound them with the facts all you want. They're just going to clamp their hands over their ears until finally you figure out a more indirect pathway to their brains. 

He illustrates the point by describing his experience going back to an academic conference after spending five years in Hollywood. He always knew that scientists gave terrible presentations, but now he had learned how to give better ones. So he raised some money and made a film called "Talking Science: The Elusive Art of the Science Talk." One of the communications professors he interviewed said,

When it comes to mass communication, it's as simple as two things: arouse and fulfill. You need to first arouse your audience and get them interested in what you have to say; then you need to fulfill their expectations.

Scientists jump right to the fulfillment part without getting anyone interested. Scientists need a hook, something to get people interested in the subject.

And people prefer style of substance, Olson explains. He ends the chapter by explaining how film is a great tool to arouse, to get people interested, not really a great way to teach people material

But what people really want is a good story. A good story can both arouse and fulfill. But we'll get to that next time.


 

Randy Olson's "Don't Be SUCH a Scientist," Chapter 1: Don't Be So Cerebral

This chapter is all about how not to be a dork.

The importance of communicating science

First of all, you have to know that scientists must connect with their audiences. He goes through examples of Gregor Mendel, now know as the father of genetics, and Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, and how they only published in obscure journals and never received any attention. But their discoveries could have not only changed the world but saved lives. Scientists may not like to think they have to communicate well, but really, it's all of communicating those great discoveries.

And communicating means have substance but using style.

And we all like style.

The Four Organs Theory of connecting with a mass audience

Olson uses what he calls the "four organs theory" in the first half of the book to show how scientists' typical communication style falls flat for lay audiences:

• The head: the cerebral part of reason and analysis
• The heart: home of sentiment, passion, and emotion
• The gut: where humor and instinct rule
• The lower organs: the opposite of logic, where thinking doesn't even play a role

It's an interesting analysis of communication because his point here is that scientists tend to stay in the cerebral realm, but that isn't where most effective mainstream communicators stay. The first chapter is "Don't Be so Cerebral," and he means it. Get out of being purely logical and try using emotion and instinct.

As a side note, Olson generally steers clear of the lower organs. He leaves that to pure Hollywood and advises scientists to stay away from trying to be sexy. It doesn't really work, and when it fails, it can fail spectacularly. And possibly hilariously.

Because Olson has been to film school, most of his anecdotes come from his experiences there including one repulsive but supposedly brilliant acting teacher who appears to have used shame and humiliation rather tactically. But his stories are always fun to read and his metaphors are easily brilliant.

For example, when contemplating his own feelings about scientists, he is sure to say that he isn't telling people not to be scientists:

Well, I spent six wonderful years at Harvard University completing my doctorate, and I'll take the intellectuals any day. But still, it would be nice if they could just take a little bit of the edge off their more extreme characteristics. It's like asking football players not to wear their cleats in the house. You're not asking them not to be football players, only to use their specific skills in the right place.

Using all of the organs

Olson wants scientists to use more of their heart and gut, to use their intuition and not to remain solely in the head:

They provide extra vitality, sparks of energy, and organic element--in general, they create the essence of what is meant by the word "human." 

It's good advice. 

Randy Olson's "Don't Be SUCH a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style," Introduction

 

"Intellectuals don't act, they think and talk."

At least that's what Randy Olson's acting teacher told him, and that's the entire point of Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style.

This guy know what he's talking about, too. He went from being a tenured professor of biology at a major research university to becoming a documentary filmmaker who first wanted to become an actor. So he knows all about the difference between intellectuals and actors. He's tried it both ways. And now he kind of has it both ways. After all, he makes films about scientific subjects like climate change.

In essence, he communicates science.

If, like me, you have sat through a conference on communicating science, then this book is probably for you. When he presented at such a conference, Olson says,

"I sat there that morning in disbelief as the speakers--supposedly the best of the best when it comes to presenting science to the public--gave some of the dullest, most uninspiring presentations I've ever seen." (7)

And the book's full of "inspirational" anecdotes like that, almost like he's goading scientists into communicating better. Because he desperately wants scientists to do better. In fact, he says, they must do better, or our planet will suffer through various problems such as, well, climate change.

Randy Olson is great at explaining this stuff. As a "scientist-turned-filmmaker," he went to Hollywood to learn to communicate with people, and his stories fill Don't be Such a Scientist.

As we will see next time, he describes the way scientists are and then tries to make suggestions for how they can do better. Doing better, for Olson, means communicating better. And he makes his points primarily by relating hilarious stories.

Stay tuned.

Randy Olson's "Don't Be SUCH a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style"

Randy Olson has a PhD in marine biology, and he worked as a professor before moving to Hollywood and going to film school. He now makes documentary films such as Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus (2006) and Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy (2008). His perspective as a scientist turned filmmaker gives him insight into how scientists could communicate better to lay audiences. And that's really his point in Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style.

The title of the book is a bit misleading, though. He usually italicizes the title as "Don't Be Such a Scientist" or Don't Be SUCH a Scientist. It makes me want to emphasize the "such" of the title, but that isn't what he means. It's more like his wife hanging her head in frustration and muttering, "Don't be such a scientist, Randy. You're too rational and cold. Just talk to me." Or something like that.

He is careful to say that the title is not Don't Be a Scientist. There's a place for the cold, rational communication of scientists, he claims. But when talking to non-scientists, scientists need to talk like non-scientists. They need to learn the communication styles of Hollywood and others that actually grab people and make them want to take action.

Stay tuned for more about Randy Olson's remarkable and effective book about how to become a better scientist by becoming a better communicator.