The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates adherence to scientifically supported prevention strategies, such as social distancing. Although most Americans support social distancing, a subset of conservatives reject the scientific consensus on this matter. We explored why some conservatives reject social distancing, focusing on how trust in science contributes to ideological differences in social distancing intentions. In two studies, we replicated recent research demonstrating that conservatives report lower support for social distancing compared to liberals. However, in Study 1 we found support for a moderating role of trust in science, such that conservatives reported stronger intentions to socially distance when they had high trust in science. In Study 2, we enhanced trust in messaging about social distancing – and in turn, social distancing intentions among conservatives – by having the messages come from a Republican (vs. unidentified) government official. These studies provide insight into how we can increase adherence to public health recommendations regarding COVID-19.

COVID-19 大流行需要遵守有科学依据的预防策略，例如社交距离。尽管大多数美国人支持保持社交距离，但一部分保守派拒绝就此事达成科学共识。我们探讨了为什么一些保守派反对社会疏远，重点关注对科学的信任如何导致社会疏远意图的意识形态差异。在两项研究中，我们重复了最近的研究，表明与自由主义者相比，保守派报告的对社会疏远的支持较低。然而，在研究 1 中，我们发现对科学信任的调节作用的支持，因此保守派在高度信任科学时报告了更强烈的社会距离意图。在研究 2 中，我们通过让消息来自共和党（与身份不明）政府官员来增强对有关社交距离的消息的信任，进而增强了保守派之间的社交距离意图。这些研究为我们如何提高遵守有关 COVID-19 的公共卫生建议提供了见解。