What if some people just do not like science? How personality traits relate to attitudes towards science

Abstract

As societal discussion on the public opinion of science and technology continually ignites, understanding where such opinions are rooted is increasingly relevant. A handful of prior studies have pointed towards personality traits as potentially influential for individual attitudes towards science. However, these report mixed findings, and employ small student, convenience or scientist samples. This leaves considerable uncertainty regarding personality traits’ relation to attitudes towards science. If in fact stable psychological predispositions play a role in public opinion of science, this has considerable implications for science policy and science communication. This paper investigates the relationship between the big five personality traits and science attitudes in Germany and the Netherlands. Findings indicate that personality traits are related to science attitudes but only weakly so, among them openness to experience and neuroticism are most notably related to science attitudes, whereas extraversion, in contrast to prior studies, shows no relation to science attitudes.