Dr. Niels G. Mede - Predicting public trust in science: The role of

Journal article

Florian Wintterlin, Friederike Hendriks, Niels G. Mede, Rainer Bromme, Julia Metag, Mike S. Schäfer
Frontiers in Communication, 2022

DOI: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.822757

Cite

APA Click to copy
Wintterlin, F., Hendriks, F., Mede, N. G., Bromme, R., Metag, J., & Schäfer, M. S. (2022). Predicting public trust in science: The role of basic orientations toward science, perceived trustworthiness of scientists, and experiences with science. Frontiers in Communication. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.822757

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Wintterlin, Florian, Friederike Hendriks, Niels G. Mede, Rainer Bromme, Julia Metag, and Mike S. Schäfer. “Predicting Public Trust in Science: The Role of Basic Orientations toward Science, Perceived Trustworthiness of Scientists, and Experiences with Science.” Frontiers in Communication (2022).

MLA Click to copy
Wintterlin, Florian, et al. “Predicting Public Trust in Science: The Role of Basic Orientations toward Science, Perceived Trustworthiness of Scientists, and Experiences with Science.” Frontiers in Communication, 2022, doi:10.3389/fcomm.2021.822757.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{wintterlin2022a,
  title = {Predicting public trust in science: The role of basic orientations toward science, perceived trustworthiness of scientists, and experiences with science},
  year = {2022},
  journal = {Frontiers in Communication},
  doi = {10.3389/fcomm.2021.822757},
  author = {Wintterlin, Florian and Hendriks, Friederike and Mede, Niels G. and Bromme, Rainer and Metag, Julia and Schäfer, Mike S.}
}

Scientists (and science as a whole) provide evidence and advice for societal problem solving and collective decision-making. For this advice to be heard, the public must be willing to trust science, where “trust” means that one can confidently expect science to provide reliable knowledge and evidence, even if one’s understanding of science is bounded. According to the sociological and psychological literature, citizens’ basic attitudes toward, experiences with, and perceived trustworthiness of the trustee serve as antecedents of trust. From this, we developed a model for the public’s trust in science, and we tested this model in a nationally representative survey in Switzerland (N = 1,050). The analysis reveals that trust in science was best predicted by positivistic attitudes toward science (β = 0.33) and to a lesser extent by trustworthiness assessments of scientists (β = 0.24). Experiences with science did not predict trust in science (β = 0.07). These results suggest that stable basic attitudes toward science and its role in society are grounds on which trust in science can be built.