{"id":3575,"date":"2026-08-31T14:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T18:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/?p=3575"},"modified":"2026-08-31T14:07:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T18:07:59","slug":"agricurious-talks-emotions-trust-and-science-with-dr-shuyang-qu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/2026\/08\/agricurious-talks-emotions-trust-and-science-with-dr-shuyang-qu\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Shuyang Qu Discusses Emotions, Trust, and Science on AgriCurious"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In episode nine of season two of the\u00a0AgriCurious\u00a0podcast<\/a>, Dennis Baffour-Awuah<\/a> spoke with Dr. Shuyang Qu<\/a> about the role of emotions in science and how they shape decision-making, responses to scientific information, and engagement with agricultural innovations. Dr. Qu\u2019s research centers on agricultural science communication and public engagement, specifically examining how emotions and persuasive messages can enhance perceptions of agricultural science and address misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Qu explained that while facts remain an important part of science communication, people do not always make decisions based solely on facts. Emotions and instincts play a significant role in human decision-making. Fear, for example, can help people avoid danger, while worry can help them prepare for uncertainty. These emotional responses also affect daily choices, such as those about food, even when individuals think they are making rational decisions. \u201cThese emotions are built in our system and rooted very deeply in our decision-making. It\u2019s the same with food. When we walk into the grocery store and try to make decisions on what we want to buy to feed our family, we will base most of our emotions to make that decision: Is it safe? Is the production system good to the environment, good to human health? So emotions are in every decision that we make,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This connection between facts and emotions becomes especially important when trust is involved. Dr. Qu noted that facts can be effective when a trusting relationship already exists between audiences and those producing or communicating information. However, when that trust is broken, people may become worried, ask more questions, and rely more heavily on their emotions. In such situations, simply providing additional facts may not be enough. Instead, communicators may first need to focus on restoring and strengthening trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When discussing misinformation, Dr. Qu explained that communicators should also consider how different audiences prefer to engage with information. Some people may want to explore an issue in depth and base decisions on detailed evidence. For these audiences, she recommended that experiences such as visiting a farm, observing a demonstration, reading a book, or taking a course may be useful. Other audiences may be reached through social and entertainment media, particularly through stories that immerse them in an experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a theory called transportation theory. It demonstrates how a person watching a movie can get so deep into the story, and the whole experience can feel like a transportation of themselves to another reality,\u201d she said. \u201cThey experience everything those characters they connected with experience, and then they come back after that movie or TV show experience as a new person. It\u2019s like they traveled somewhere and came back. So those are very impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Qu noted that engaging stories that touch people emotionally can therefore provide another avenue for communicating about agriculture. She also urged scientists to understand that scientific accuracy and personal storytelling can coexist. Scientists can remain accurate while also conveying their emotions, setbacks, successes, and behind-the-scenes moments in their research. Although how much a scientist shares depends on their individual comfort level, she highlighted that showing these experiences can help audiences connect with them beyond their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople now want to see what is real, not what looks pretty,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to the conversation with Dr. Qu here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In episode nine of season two of the\u00a0AgriCurious\u00a0podcast, Dennis Baffour-Awuah spoke with Dr. Shuyang Qu about the role of emotions in science and how they shape decision-making, responses to scientific information, and engagement with agricultural innovations. Dr. Qu\u2019s research centers on agricultural science communication and public engagement, specifically examining how emotions and persuasive messages can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1005,"featured_media":3578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,60],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-3575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agproduction","category-scicomm","tag-baffour-awuah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3575"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3586,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions\/3586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/lammlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}