Efforts to change the attitudes of creationists, antivaccination advocates, and climate skeptics by simply providing evidence have had limited success. Motivated reasoning helps make sense of this communication challenge: If people are motivated to hold a scientifically unorthodox belief, they selectively interpret evidence to reinforce their preferred position. In the current article, I summarize research on six psychological roots from which science-skeptical attitudes grow: (a) ideologies, (b) vested interests, (c) conspiracist worldviews, (d) fears and phobias, (e) personal-identity expression, and (f) social-identity needs. The case is made that effective science communication relies on understanding and attending to these underlying motivations.

仅通过提供证据来改变创造论者，抗疫苗倡导者和气候怀疑论者的态度的努力收效甚微。有动机的推理有助于理解这种交流挑战：如果人们有动机持有科学上非正统的信念，他们会选择性地解释证据以巩固自己的偏好。在当前的文章中，我总结了对六种心理学根源的研究，这些科学根源来自于科学的怀疑态度：（a）意识形态，（b）既得利益，（c）阴谋论世界观，（d）恐惧和恐惧症，（e）个人身份表达，以及（f）社会认同需求。事实证明，有效的科学交流取决于对这些潜在动机的理解和关注。