{"id":603087,"date":"2023-12-31T17:50:01","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T14:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/why-some-people-dont-trust-science-and-how-to-change-their-minds\/"},"modified":"2023-12-31T17:50:01","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T14:50:01","slug":"why-some-people-dont-trust-science-and-how-to-change-their-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-some-people-dont-trust-science-and-how-to-change-their-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"#Why some people don&#8217;t trust science\u2014and how to change their minds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a37c6096218d\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a37c6096218d\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-some-people-dont-trust-science-and-how-to-change-their-minds\/#Understanding_distrust\" >Understanding distrust<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-some-people-dont-trust-science-and-how-to-change-their-minds\/#Finding_solutions\" >Finding solutions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2023\/why-some-people-dont-t.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2023\/why-some-people-dont-t.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Credit: NASA\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2023\/why-some-people-dont-t.jpg\" alt=\"Why some people don't trust science\u2014and how to change their minds\" title=\"Credit: NASA\" width=\"800\" height=\"394\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                Credit: NASA<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>During the pandemic, a third of people in the UK reported that their trust in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> had increased, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0278169\">we recently discovered<\/a>. But 7% said that it had decreased. Why is there such variety of responses?<\/p>\n<section class=\"article-banner first-banner ads-336x280\"><!-- \/4988204\/Phys_Story_InText_Box --><br \/>\n      <\/section>\n<p>For many years, it was thought that the main reason some people rejected science was a simple deficit of knowledge and a mooted fear of the unknown. Consistent with this, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0963662506070159\">many surveys<\/a> reported that attitudes to science are more positive among those people who know more about textbook science.<\/p>\n<p>But if that were indeed the core problem, the remedy would be simple: inform people about the facts. This strategy, which dominated science communication through much of the later part of the 20th century, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/097172180901400202\">has, however, failed<\/a> at multiple levels.<\/p>\n<p>In <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1023\/A:1023695519981\">controlled experiments<\/a>, giving people scientific information was found not to change attitudes. And in the UK, scientific messaging over genetically modified technologies <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/097172180901400202\">has even backfired<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The failure of the information-led strategy may be down to people discounting or avoiding information if it contradicts their beliefs\u2014also known as <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/1089-2680.2.2.175\">confirmation bias<\/a>. However, a second problem is that some trust neither the message nor the messenger. This means that distrust in science isn&#8217;t necessarily just down to a deficit of knowledge, but a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/097172180901400202\">deficit of trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With this in mind, many research teams, including ours, decided to find out why some people do and some people don&#8217;t trust science. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0278169\">One strong predictor<\/a> for people distrusting science during the pandemic stood out: being distrusting of science in the first place.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Understanding_distrust\"><\/span>Understanding distrust<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Recent evidence has revealed that people who reject or distrust science are not especially well informed about it, but more importantly, they typically <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41562-018-0520-3\">believe that they do understand<\/a> the science.<\/p>\n<p>This result has, over the past five years, been found over and over in studies investigating attitudes to a plethora of scientific issues, including <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.socscimed.2018.06.032\">vaccines<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41562-018-0520-3\">GM foods<\/a>. It also holds, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pbio.3001915\">we discovered<\/a>, even when no specific <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> is asked about. However, they may not <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ly to certain politicized sciences, such as <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.abo0038\">climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Recent work also found that overconfident people who dislike science tend to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.31234\/osf.io\/d5fz2\">have a misguided belief<\/a> that theirs is the common viewpoint and hence that many others agree with them.<\/p>\n<p>Other evidence suggests that some of those who reject science also gain psychological satisfaction by framing their alternative explanations in a manner that <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/info\/live-work-travel-eu\/coronavirus-response\/fighting-disinformation\/identifying-conspiracy-theories_en\">can&#8217;t be disproven<\/a>. Such is often the nature of conspiracy theories\u2014be it microchips in vaccines or COVID being caused by 5G radiation.<\/p>\n<p>But the whole point of science is to examine and test theories that can be proven wrong\u2014theories scientists call falsifiable. Conspiracy theorists, on the other hand, often reject information that doesn&#8217;t align with their preferred explanation by, as a last resort, questioning instead the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/commission.europa.eu\/strategy-and-policy\/coronavirus-response\/fighting-disinformation\/identifying-conspiracy-theories_en\">motives of the messenger<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When a person who trusts the scientific method debates with someone who doesn&#8217;t, they are essentially playing by different rules of engagement. This means it is hard to convince skeptics that they might be wrong.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Finding_solutions\"><\/span>Finding solutions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So what we can one do with this new understanding of attitudes to science?<\/p>\n<p>The messenger is every bit as important as the message. Our work confirms many prior surveys showing that politicians, for example, aren&#8217;t trusted to communicate science, whereas university professors <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosbiology\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pbio.3001915\">are<\/a>. This should be kept in mind.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that some people hold negative attitudes reinforced by a misguided belief that many others agree with them suggests a further potential strategy: tell people what the consensus position is. The advertising industry got there first. Statements such as &#8220;eight out of ten cat owners say their pet prefers this brand of cat food&#8221; are popular.<\/p>\n<p>A recent <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/09567976221083219\">meta-analysis<\/a> of 43 studies investigating this strategy (these were &#8220;randomized control trials&#8221;\u2014the gold standard in scientific testing) found support for this approach to alter belief in scientific facts. In specifying the consensus position, it implicitly clarifies what is misinformation or unsupported ideas, meaning it would also address the problem that <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfi.ie\/resources\/SFI-Science-in-Ireland-Barometer.pdf\">half of people<\/a> don&#8217;t know what is true owing to the circulation of conflicting evidence.<\/p>\n<p>A complementary approach is to prepare people for the possibility of misinformation. Misinformation spreads fast, and, unfortunately, each attempt to debunk it acts to bring the misinformation more into view. Scientists call this the &#8220;<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1529100612451018\">continued influence effect<\/a>&#8220;. Genies never get put back into bottles. Better is to anticipate objections, or <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.abo6254\">inoculate people<\/a> against the strategies used to promote misinformation. This is called &#8220;prebunking&#8221;, as opposed to debunking.<\/p>\n<p>                                                                                                                                            Different strategies may be needed in different contexts, though whether the science in question is established with a consensus among experts, such as climate change, or cutting-edge new research into the unknown, such as for a completely new virus, matters. For the latter, explaining what we know, what we don&#8217;t know, and what we are doing\u2014and emphasizing that results are provisional\u2014<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-020-03189-1\">is a good way to go<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>By emphasizing uncertainty in fast changing fields we can prebunk the objection that a sender of a message cannot be trusted as they said one thing one day and something else later.<\/p>\n<p>But no strategy is likely to be 100% effective. We found that even with widely debated <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/genetics.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Copy-of-Public-Perception-of-Genetics.pdf\">PCR tests for COVID<\/a>, 30% of the public said they hadn&#8217;t heard of PCR.<\/p>\n<p>A common quandary for much science communication may, in fact, be that it appeals to those already engaged with science, which may be why you read this.<\/p>\n<p>That said, the new science of communication suggests it is certainly worth trying to reach out to those who are disengaged.<\/p>\n<div class=\"d-inline-block text-medium mt-4\">\n<p>                                                    Provided by<br \/>\n                                                                                                            The Conversation<br \/>\n                                                                                                                <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"icon_open\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\"><br \/>\n                                                            <svg><use href=\"https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/svg\/sprite.svg#icon_open\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\"\/><\/svg><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"article-main__note mt-4\">\n                                                  This article is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/why-some-people-dont-trust-science-and-how-to-change-their-minds-219579\">original article<\/a>.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/219579\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                        <!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>                                                <strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n                                                Why some people don&#8217;t trust science\u2014and how to change their minds (2023, December 31)<br \/>\n                                                retrieved 31 December 2023<br \/>\n                                                from https:\/\/phys.org\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\/2023-12-people-dont-scienceand-minds.html<\/p>\n<p>                                             This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n                                             part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/science\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2023-12-people-dont-scienceand-minds.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: NASA During the pandemic, a third of people in the UK reported that their trust in science had increased, we recently discovered. But 7% said that it had decreased. Why is there such variety of responses? For many years, it was thought that the main reason some people rejected science was a simple deficit&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":603088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2023\/why-some-people-dont-t.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-603087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}