Science for Others or the Self? Presumed Motives for Science Shape Public Trust in Science

Benson‐Greenwald, Tessa M.; Trujillo, Alejandro; White, Ann Marie; Diekman, Amanda B.

doi:10.1177/01461672211064456

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Another strategy that is related to but distinct from conveying warmth is for scientists to communicate that they are pursuing prosocial goals in their work. When people perceive scientists as prosocial, they have greater trust in science ( 110 ).…”

Section: What Can We Do About Antiscience Attitudes?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why are people antiscience, and what can we do about it?

Philipp-Muller

Lee

Petty

2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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From vaccination refusal to climate change denial, antiscience views are threatening humanity. When different individuals are provided with the same piece of scientific evidence, why do some accept whereas others dismiss it? Building on various emerging data and models that have explored the psychology of being antiscience, we specify four core bases of key principles driving antiscience attitudes. These principles are grounded in decades of research on attitudes, persuasion, social influence, social identity, and information processing. They apply across diverse domains of antiscience phenomena. Specifically, antiscience attitudes are more likely to emerge when a scientific message comes from sources perceived as lacking credibility; when the recipients embrace the social membership or identity of groups with antiscience attitudes; when the scientific message itself contradicts what recipients consider true, favorable, valuable, or moral; or when there is a mismatch between the delivery of the scientific message and the epistemic style of the recipient. Politics triggers or amplifies many principles across all four bases, making it a particularly potent force in antiscience attitudes. Guided by the key principles, we describe evidence-based counteractive strategies for increasing public acceptance of science.

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Section: What Can We Do About Antiscience Attitudes?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why are people antiscience, and what can we do about it?

Philipp-Muller

Lee

Petty

2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…This work thus has implications for science educators, media practitioners, and content creators: Depictions of scientists in public communications and popular culture provide an avenue to portray lesser known aspects of science by highlighting opportunities for collaboration, success through effort, and humanitarian purpose. Indeed, emphasizing opportunities for collaboration and humanitarian purpose has important implications for public trust in science: Scientific domains that were described as prosocially-oriented (vs. power-oriented) were trusted more and perceived as a higher funding priority ( Benson-Greenwald et al, 2021b ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Out of the Lab and Into the World: Analyses of Social Roles and Gender in Profiles of Scientists in The New York Times and The Scientist

2022

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Although representations of female scientists in the media have increased over time, stereotypical portrayals of science persist. In-depth, contemporary profiles of scientists’ roles have an opportunity to reflect or to challenge stereotypes of science and of gender. We employed content and linguistic analyses to examine whether publicly available profiles of scientists from New York Times and The Scientist Magazine support or challenge pervasive beliefs about science. Consistent with broader stereotypes of STEM fields, these portrayals focused more on agency than communality. However, profiles also challenged stereotypes through integrating communality, purpose, and growth. This analysis also found similar presence of communal and agentic constructs for both female and male scientists. The current findings highlight the importance of considering counterstereotypic representations of science in the media: Communicating messages to the public that challenge existing beliefs about the culture of science may be one path toward disrupting stereotypes that dissuade talented individuals from choosing science pathways.

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“…Indeed, simply including this type of assignment in the curriculum might convey that an instructor values prosocial applications. Because the UVI is a course assignment, it represents a type of intervention that has the potential to influence students' perceptions of their instructors, and the field more generally (Benson-Greenwald et al, 2021). But should this new UVI emphasize prosocial value to the exclusion of personal value?…”

Section: Interventions To Promote Perceived Prosocial Value In Stemmentioning

confidence: 99%

A prosocial value intervention in gateway STEM courses.

Harackiewicz,

Hecht,

Asher

et al. 2023

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Many college students, especially first-generation and underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students, desire courses and careers that emphasize helping people and society. Can instructors of introductory science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses promote motivation, performance, and equity in STEM fields by emphasizing the prosocial relevance of course material? We developed, implemented, and evaluated a prosocial utility-value intervention (UVI): A course assignment in which students were asked to reflect on the prosocial value of biology or chemistry course content; our focus was on reducing performance gaps between first-generation and continuing generation college students. In Studies 1a and 1b, we piloted two versions of a prosocial UVI in introductory biology (N = 282) and chemistry classes (N = 1,705) to test whether we could encourage students to write about the prosocial value of course content. In Study 2, we tested a version of the UVI that combines personal and prosocial values, relative to a standard UVI, which emphasizes personal values, using a randomized controlled trial in an introductory chemistry course (N = 2,505), and examined effects on performance and motivation in the course. In Study 3, we tested the prosocial UVI against a standard UVI in an introductory biology course (N = 712). Results suggest that the prosocial UVI may be particularly effective in promoting motivation and performance for first-generation college students, especially those who are more confident that they can perform well in the class, reflecting a classic expectancy-value interaction. Mediation analyses suggest that this intervention worked by promoting interest in chemistry.

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Science for Others or the Self? Presumed Motives for Science Shape Public Trust in Science

Cited by 18 publications

References 62 publications

Why are people antiscience, and what can we do about it?

Why are people antiscience, and what can we do about it?

Out of the Lab and Into the World: Analyses of Social Roles and Gender in Profiles of Scientists in The New York Times and The Scientist

A prosocial value intervention in gateway STEM courses.

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