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Fiction references as framing devices in extended reality news discourse. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-19 Emma Kaylee Graves-Sandriman
This article examines fiction references in news coverage of extended reality. Based on a mixed methods analysis of 977 news articles from UK mainstream mass media outlets, this study found that fiction references were frequently used as framing devices within the news articles, with a focus on two franchises: The Matrix original trilogy (1999-2003) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994). These
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Book Review: Felicity Mellor Insights on Science Journalism Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-12 Matthias Kohring
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Declaring crisis? Temporal constructions of climate change on Wikipedia Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-10 Olivia Steiert
On Wikipedia, editors daily negotiate edits to an entry that summarizes climate change to a global audience. The outcome of their efforts is an encyclopedic entry with a conspicuous lack of temporal clarity that circumvents the question of whether climate change is an immediate crisis or merely a potential future phenomenon. This qualitative discourse analysis of editors’ debates around climate change
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The plurivocal university: Typologizing the diverse voices of a research university on social media Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-08-23 Sophia Charlotte Volk, Daniel Vogler, Silke Fürst, Mike S. Schäfer
Science communication has diversified in the wake of the digital transformation of communication and media ecosystems. Social media enable universities, but also academics and institutions affiliated with them, to expand their communication. This leads to increasing plurivocality of universities, yet the many different voices remain largely unexplored. This study develops a typology to conceptually
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Does exposure necessarily lead to misbelief? A meta-analysis of susceptibility to health misinformation Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-08-06 Jinhui Li, Xiaodong Yang
A meta-analysis was conducted to quantify the overall effect of health misinformation exposure on shaping misbelief. Aggregation of results from 28 individual randomized controlled trial studies ( n = 8752) reveals a positive but small average effect, d = 0.28. Moderation analyses suggest that adults who are younger and female tend to develop higher misbelief if exposed to health misinformation. Furthermore
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Who is at risk of bias? Examining dispositional differences in motivated science reception Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Marlene Sophie Altenmüller, Laura Amelie Poppe
The motivated reception of science in line with one’s preexisting convictions is a well-documented, pervasive phenomenon. In two studies ( N = 743), we investigated whether this bias might be stronger in some people than others due to dispositional differences. Building on the assumptions that motivated science reception is driven by perceived threat and suspicion and higher under perceived ambiguity
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Self-serving beliefs about science: Science justifies my weaknesses (but not other people’s) Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-07-30 Francisco Cruz, André Mata
This research explored the strategic beliefs that people have about science and the extent to which it can explain moral and immoral behaviors. Although people do not believe that science is able to explain certain aspects of their mind, they might nevertheless accept a scientific explanation for their immoral behaviors if that explanation is exculpatory. In a first study, participants reflected on
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Book review: Angela Potochnik Science and the Public Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-06-20 Thomas E. Dickins
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Public perception of new plant breeding techniques and the psychosocial determinants of acceptance: A systematic review. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Michele Paleologo,Alessandra Lanubile,Marco Camardo Leggieri,Guendalina Graffigna,Paolo Gomarasca,Serena Barello
Advancements in New Plant Breeding Techniques have emerged as promising tools for enhancing crop productivity, quality, and resilience in the face of global challenges, such as climate change and food security. However, the successful implementation of these techniques relies also on public acceptance of this innovation. Understanding what shapes public perception and acceptance of New Plant Breeding
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Science popularisation as diffusion of knowledge? Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-06-06 Plamena Panayotova
This article offers an in-depth analysis of the diffusion model of science popularisation. It reviews criticisms against the model and shows that they do not warrant its rejection. It argues that the diffusion model has elements, hitherto neglected, which can facilitate a better understanding of popularisation. Viewing popularisation as the diffusion of knowledge is beneficial because it enables us
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Book review essay: Digging deep into stories in science communication Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-29 Brigitte Nerlich
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Is science to be trusted? How environmentally active youths relate to science in social media Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-29 Karin M. Gustafsson
Research has shown a great distrust among youths toward political representatives, who they demand should “listen to the science.” However, less research has been done on youths’ own trust in science. This study explores and explains how youths who are environmentally active in two different environmental youth organizations relate to science in social media, whether they trust science, and how youths’
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Are plain language summaries more readable than scientific abstracts? Evidence from six biomedical and life sciences journals Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-24 Ju Wen, Lan Yi
In recent decades, members of the general public have become increasingly reliant on findings of scientific studies for decision-making. However, scientific writing usually features a heavy use of technical language, which may pose challenges for people outside of the scientific community. To alleviate this issue, plain language summaries were introduced to provide a brief summary of scientific papers
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Visible scientists in digital communication environments: An analysis of their role performance as public experts on Twitter/X during the Covid-19 pandemic Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-21 Kaija Biermann, Monika Taddicken
In response to significant societal challenges, there is a growing demand for scientists to actively engage in public discussions. The recent Covid-19 pandemic led to the sudden visibility of certain scientists, necessitating them to extend their roles beyond research and actively communicate with the general public. Online platforms allow for direct engagement but increase the challenge by interconnecting
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A 30-nation investigation of lay heritability beliefs Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-26 Laura J. Ferris, Matthew J. Hornsey, José J. Morosoli, Taciano L. Milfont, Fiona Kate Barlow
Lay beliefs about human trait heritability are consequential for cooperation and social cohesion, yet there has been no global characterisation of these beliefs. Participants from 30 countries ( N = 6128) reported heritability beliefs for intelligence, personality, body weight and criminality, and transnational factors that could influence these beliefs were explored using public nation-level data
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The effect of experts on attitude change in public-facing political science: Scientific communication on term limits in the United States Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-25 Aaron M. Houck, Aaron S. King, J. Benjamin Taylor
How can scientists best inform the public and change attitudes? Does the message or the messenger matter more? We test the effect of scientific expert messengers and messages in a preregistered, nationally representative survey experiment in the United States. Consistent with our hypotheses, scientists can move public attitudes in areas where knowledge is based on a non-ideological misperception to
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Going beyond political ideology: A computational analysis of civic trust in science Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-25 Sangwon Lee, Marshall A. Taylor, Saifuddin Ahmed, Won-Ki Moon
Numerous studies have been conducted to identify the factors that predict trust/distrust in science. However, most of these studies are based on closed-ended survey research, which does not allow researchers to gain a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. This study integrated survey analysis conducted within the United States with computational text analysis to reveal factors previously obscured
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Book review: Geoff Mulgan When Science Meets Power Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Birte Fähnrich
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Citizens and conspiratorial anti-science beliefs: Opposition versus support in 38 countries across Europe Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Joop de Boer, Harry Aiking
This article aims to clarify citizens’ responses to conspiratorial anti-science beliefs (e.g. “The cure for cancer exists but is hidden from the public by commercial interests”). Based on Eurobarometer 95.2 (Spring 2021, 38 countries), we examine how public opposition or support for conspiratorial anti-science beliefs is related to individual- and country-level variables. There were large differences
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Science on the mind: Examining question ordering effects when asking about science on large-scale surveys Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-04 Cameron D. Mackey, Kimberly Rios, Christopher P. Scheitle, Katie E. Corcoran, Bernard D. DiGregorio
Previous research has examined people’s attitudes toward science and scientists, highlighting how religious identities, beliefs, or behavior shapes these attitudes. However, survey design choices have been previously shown to influence individuals’ attitudes toward religion and science. We investigated the extent to which question ordering (i.e. presenting questions about science before questions about
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Climate change by any other name: Social representations and language practices of coastal inhabitants on Mayotte Island in the Indian Ocean Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-31 Miki Mori, Esméralda Longépée, Gaëlle Lefer-Sauvage, Arnaud Banos, Nicolas Becu, Philippe Charpentier, Thomas Claverie, Matthieu Jeanson, Matthieu Le Duff, Damienne Provitolo, Georgeta Stoica
As population-related climate change research increases, so does the need to nuance approaches to this complex phenomenon, including issues related to cultural and linguistic translations. To explore how climate change is understood in understudied societies, a case-study approach is taken to address social representations of climate change by inhabitants of a Maore village in the French island of
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Book review: John L. Rudolph Why We Teach Science (and Why We Should) Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-30 Mairéad Hurley
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Science as the raison d’etat: Nehruvian scientism and the Indian science museum Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-23 Rose Sebastian
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The acceptance of evolution: A developmental view of Generation X in the United States Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-19 Jon D. Miller, Belén Laspra, Carmelo Polino, Glenn Branch, Robert T. Pennock, Mark S. Ackerman
The public acceptance of evolution remains a contentious issue in the United States. Numerous investigations have used national cross-sectional studies to examine the factors associated with the acceptance or rejection of evolution. This analysis uses a 33-year longitudinal study that followed the same 5000 public-school students from grade 7 through midlife (ages 45–48) and is the first to do so in
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Scientism, trust, value alignment, views of nature, and U.S. public opinion about gene drive mosquitos Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-12 John H. Evans, Cynthia E. Schairer
Gene drive could be a powerful tool for addressing problems of conservation, agriculture, and human health caused by insect and animal pests but is likely to be controversial as it involves the release of genetically modified organisms. This study examined the social determinants of opinion of gene drive. We asked a representative sample of the U.S. public to respond to a description of a hypothetical
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Stereotypes and social evaluations of scientists are related to different antecedents and outcomes Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-09 Vukašin Gligorić, Roy Clerc, Gabi Arkensteijn, Gerben A. van Kleef, Bastiaan T. Rutjens
Research on scientist perceptions tends to focus on either stereotypes (white, male) or social evaluations (competent but cold), sometimes yielding incongruent conclusions (e.g. scientists are simultaneously seen as moral and immoral). Across two preregistered correlational studies ( N = 1091), we address this issue by simultaneously assessing stereotypes and social evaluations and their association
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Book review: Mike Hulme Climate Change Isn’t Everything: Liberating Climate Politics From Alarmism Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-09 Julia Schubert
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The public you want, the public you get: Exploring the relationship between the public and science in the debate on xenotransplantation Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Johannes Kögel
The debate that followed the first-in-human cardiac transplantation of a genetically modified pig organ emerged as a discussion of social justice when the patient’s criminal record was revealed. This article aims to make sense of this debate by understanding the role of the ‘public’ today, particularly in relation to the governance of biotechnology. The relationship between the public and science is
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Who are the “Heroes of CRISPR”? Public science communication on Wikipedia and the challenge of micro-notability Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Arno Simons, Wolfgang Kircheis, Marion Schmidt, Martin Potthast, Benno Stein
Wikipedia’s influence in shaping public perceptions of science underscores the significance of scientists being recognized on the platform, as it can impact their careers. Although Wikipedia offers guidelines for determining when a scientist qualifies for their own article, it currently lacks guidance regarding whether a scientist should be acknowledged in articles related to the innovation processes
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Feminist retroviruses to white Sharia: Gender “science fan fiction” on 4Chan Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Nicole Iturriaga, Aaron Panofsky, Kushan Dasgupta
This article demonstrates—based on an interpretive discourse analysis of three types of memes (Rabid Feminists, Women’s Bodies, Policy Ideas) and secondary thread discourse on 4chan’s “Politically Incorrect” discussion board—two key findings: (1) the existence of a gendered hate based scientific discourse, “science fan fiction,” in online spaces and (2) how gender “science fan fiction” is an outcome
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When evidence changes: Communicating uncertainty protects against a loss of trust Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Charlotte Dries, Michelle McDowell, Felix G. Rebitschek, Christina Leuker
Scientific findings can be overturned when new evidence arises. This study examines how communicating and explaining uncertainty around scientific findings affect trust in the communicator when findings change. In an online experiment ( N = 800, convenience sample), participants read a fictitious statement from a public health authority announcing that there was no link between a new COVID-19 vaccine
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A systematic literature review of the ‘commercialisation effect’ on public attitudes towards biobank and genomic data repositories Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Jarrod Walshe, Brad Elphinstone, Dianne Nicol, Mark Taylor
Initiatives that collect and share genomic data to advance health research are widespread and accelerating. Commercial interests in these efforts, while vital, may erode public trust and willingness to provide personal genomic data, upon which these initiatives depend. Understanding public attitudes towards providing genomic data for health research in the context of commercial involvement is critical
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The four “R”s: Strategies for tailoring science for religious publics and their prices Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-22 Lea Taragin-Zeller, Oren Golan, Yariv Tsfati, Nakhi Mishol Shauli, Yael Rozenblum, Ayelet Baram-Tsabari
A recent wave of studies has diversified science communication by emphasizing gender, race, and disability. In this article, we focus on the understudied lens of religion. Based on an analysis of ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) science journalism and its readership, we identify four main strategies for tailoring science, which we call the four “R”s—removing, reclaiming, remodeling, and rubricating science
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Issue ownership of science in the United States Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-19 Bruce W. Hardy, Meghnaa Tallapragada, Elizabeth Sungsoo Baik, Abraham Koshy
This study assesses whether the Democratic Party holds issue ownership over science in the United States. We analyze data from a national survey that asked 1041 adults questions specifically designed to measure perceptions of science ownership. While the results suggest that the Democratic Party does hold a significant advantage in ownership of science in an abstract sense, perceptions of ownership
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Communicating trust and trustworthiness through scientists’ biographies: Benevolence beliefs Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-19 Samantha Hautea, John C. Besley, Hyesun Choung
A goal of many science communicators is to foster trust in scientists and their work. This study investigates if existing textual resources that scientists create in the course of their regular activities can be improved to enhance perceptions of scientists as trustworthy. Building on Mayer et al.’s integrative model of organizational trust, we examine how communicating benevolence through short biographies
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Imagining the model citizen: A comparison between public understanding of science, public engagement in science, and citizen science Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-19 Wanheng Hu
This article examines the visions of citizens’ ideal practices regarding technoscientific affairs in a democratic society, namely “imaginaries of model citizens,” that underlie three science and public initiatives: public understanding of science, public engagement in science, and citizen science. While imaginaries of citizens are performative and necessary to these initiatives, they are often relegated
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Complexity appreciated: How the communication of complexity impacts topic-specific intellectual humility and epistemic trustworthiness Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-16 Nina Vaupotič, Dorothe Kienhues, Regina Jucks
In the context of science communication, complexity is often reduced. This study employs a 2 × 2 experimental design ( N = 432) to investigate how two factors, namely the communication of complexity (reduced vs not reduced) and the provision of suggestions for concrete action (suggested vs not suggested), influence individuals’ productive engagement with the socio-scientific topic of sustainable energy
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The effects of self-disclosure and gender on a climate scientist’s credibility and likability on social media Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-08 Nahyun Kim, Chris Skurka, Stephanie Madden
To examine whether different types of disclosure made by climate scientists on social media influence perceived source credibility (i.e. competence, integrity, benevolence) and likability, we conducted a 2 (self-disclosure type: personal vs political) × 3 (proportion of posts including a self-disclosure: 20% vs 50% vs 80%) × 2 (gender identity of scientist: male vs female) between-subjects experiment
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Who is responsible? US Public perceptions of AI governance through the lenses of trust and ethics Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-08 Prabu David, Hyesun Choung, John S. Seberger
The governance of artificial intelligence (AI) is an urgent challenge that requires actions from three interdependent stakeholders: individual citizens, technology corporations, and governments. We conducted an online survey ( N = 525) of US adults to examine their beliefs about the governance responsibility of these stakeholders as a function of trust and AI ethics. Different dimensions of trust and
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Gene editing in animals: What does the public want to know and what information do stakeholder organizations provide? Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-08 Christine Kuo, Katherine E. Koralesky, Marina A.G. von Keyserlingk, Daniel M. Weary
Organizations involved with gene editing may engage with the public to share information and address concerns about the technology. It is unclear, however, if the information shared aligns with what people want to know. We aimed to understand what members of the public want to know about gene editing in animals by soliciting their questions through an open-ended survey question and comparing them with
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Performing publics of science in the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study in Austria, Bolivia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Portugal Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-02 Helena Machado, Cláudia de Freitas, Amelia Fiske, Isabella Radhuber, Susana Silva, Christian O. Grimaldo-Rodríguez, Carlo Botrugno, Ralph Kinner, Luca Marelli
Research about science and publics in the COVID-19 pandemic often focuses on public trust and on identifying and correcting public attitudes. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 209 residents in six countries—Austria, Bolivia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Portugal—this article uses the concept of performativity to explore how participants understand, and relate to science, in the COVID-19 context
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The politics of politicization: Climate change debates in Canadian print media Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-01-29 Bernhard Isopp
Politicization is frequently employed as an analytic concept to explain the relationships between politics and media coverage of climate change. However, relatively few works explore how different notions of politicization are mobilized by actors in media discourses themselves. This article does so via a framing analysis of climate change coverage in Canadian newspapers. I investigate how different
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Who are the publics engaging in AI? Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-01-29 Renée Sieber, Ana Brandusescu, Abigail Adu-Daako, Suthee Sangiambut
Given the importance of public engagement in governments’ adoption of artificial intelligence systems, artificial intelligence researchers and practitioners spend little time reflecting on who those publics are. Classifying publics affects assumptions and affordances attributed to the publics’ ability to contribute to policy or knowledge production. Further complicating definitions are the publics’
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What if some people just do not like science? How personality traits relate to attitudes toward science and technology Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-01-20 Simon Fuglsang
As societal discussion on the public opinion of science and technology ignites over and over again, understanding where such opinions are rooted is increasingly relevant. A handful of prior studies have suggested personality traits as a root of science and technology attitudes. However, these report mixed findings, and employ small student or convenience samples. This leaves considerable uncertainty
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Communicating uncertainties regarding COVID-19 vaccination: Moderating roles of trust in science, government, and society Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-01-20 Jarim Kim, Jiyeon Lee, Jinha Baek, Jiyeon Ju
This study examined how uncertainty affects information seeking and avoidance behaviors via information insufficiency in the COVID-19 vaccination context. It also investigated how trust in science, government, and society moderate the effects of information insufficiency. An online experiment with 131 Korean adults showed that uncertainty indirectly affects information seeking intentions via information
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Counteracting climate denial: A systematic review Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-01-20 Laila Mendy, Mikael Karlsson, Daniel Lindvall
Despite scientific consensus on climate change, climate denial is still widespread. While much research has characterised climate denial, comparatively fewer studies have systematically examined how to counteract it. This review fills this gap by exploring the research about counteracting climate denial, the effectiveness and the intentions behind intervention. Through a systematic selection and analysis
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Online politicizations of science: Contestation versus denialism at the convergence between COVID-19 and climate science on Twitter Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Donya Alinejad, Ali Honari
This study investigates how scientific knowledge is politicized on Twitter. Identifying discursive modes of online politicization and analyzing how they relate to different online issue publics allows us to weigh in on the scholarly debate about when the politicization of science on social media becomes problematic in a democratic context. This is a complicated question in “knowledge societies” where
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Credibility of misinformation source moderates the effectiveness of corrective messages on social media. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-12-31 Huai-Kuan Zeng,Shih-Yu Lo,Shu-Chu Sarrina Li
To examine how different features of corrective messages moderate individuals' attitudes toward misinformation on social media, a 2 (misinformation source credibility: high vs low) × 2 (corrective message source: algorithmic vs peer correction) × 2 (correction type: factual elaboration vs simple rebuttal) between-subjects experiment was conducted. To reduce perceived credibility and respondents' attitudes
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Delineating between scientism and science enthusiasm: Challenges in measuring scientism and the development of novel scale. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-12-31 Petar Lukić,Iris Žeželj
Scientism proposes science to be an all-powerful human enterprise, able to answer not only all practical but also philosophical or moral questions. We are taking a psychological approach to scientism, studying uncritical trust in science and uncritical trust in scientists as a part of a unique attitudinal tendency. Our novel measure assesses both kinds of trust through short Thurstone scales allowing
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Institutional and non-institutional news trust as predictors of COVID-19 beliefs: Evidence from three European countries. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-12-23 Ángel Arrese
The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by an infodemic in which trust in news played an essential role. This article analyzes how this trust can be divided into two components, institutional and non-institutional, which are differentially related to beliefs about COVID-19 and perceptions of receiving misinformation and disinformation. Based on a survey conducted in three European countries (Germany
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Constructing the public in public perceptions research: A case study of forest genomics. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-12-14 Valerie Berseth,Jennifer Taylor,Jenna Hutchen,Vivian Nguyen,Stephan Schott,Nicole Klenk
Contemporary scientific and technological endeavours face public and political pressure to adopt open, transparent and democratically accountable practices of public engagement. Prior research has identified different ways that experts 'imagine publics' - as uninformed, as disengaged, as a risk to science, and as co-producers of knowledge - but there has yet to be a systematic exploration of how these
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Dealing with dissent from the medical ranks: Public health authorities and COVID-19 communication. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-16 Øyvind Ihlen,Anja Vranic
During a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health authorities will typically be criticized for their efforts. When such criticism comes from the ranks of medical personnel, the challenge becomes more pronounced for the authorities, as it suggests a public negotiation of who has sufficient expertise to handle the pandemic. Hence, the authorities are faced with the challenge
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Narrativization of human population genetics: Two cases in Iceland and Russia. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-08 Vadim Chaly,Olga V Popova
Using the two cases of the Icelandic Health Sector Database and Russian initiatives in biobanking, the article criticizes the view of narratives and imaginaries as a sufficient and unproblematic means of shaping public understanding of genetics and justifying population-wide projects. Narrative representations of national biobanking engage particular imaginaries that are not bound by the universal
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Belief updating when confronted with scientific evidence: Examining the role of trust in science. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-08 Tom Rosman,Sianna Grösser
In one exploratory study (N = 985) and one preregistered study (N = 1100), we investigated whether trust in science influences belief change on a medico-scientific issue when laypersons are confronted with scientific evidence. Moreover, we tested whether individuals with high trust in science trust science "blindly," meaning that their trust in a scientific claim's source prevents them from adequately
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Science museum educators' views on object-based learning: The perceived importance of authenticity and touch. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-02 Tirsa de Kluis,Sanne Romp,Anne M Land-Zandstra
Museum educators play an important role in mediating visitors' museum experiences. We investigated the perspectives of science museum educators on the role of touching authentic objects and replicas in visitors' learning experiences during educational activities. We used a mixed-methods approach including surveys with 49 museum educators and interviews with 12 museum educators from several countries
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Neuroscience explanations really do satisfy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the seductive allure of neuroscience. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-31 Elizabeth M Bennett,Peter J McLaughlin
Extraneous neuroscience information improves ratings of scientific explanations, and affects mock juror decisions in many studies, but others have yielded little to no effect. To establish the magnitude of this effect, we conducted a random-effects meta-analysis using 60 experiments from 28 publications. We found a mild but highly significant effect, with substantial heterogeneity. Planned subgroup
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Fuelling the climate and science 'denial machine' on social media: A case study of the Great Barrier Reef's 2021 'in danger' recommendation on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-26 Carly Lubicz-Zaorski,Maxine Newlands,Theresa Petray
Australian climate policy has been stifled by a network of free-market and extractive industry-advocating actors, yet there is little empirical evidence to show how these actors and information flows behave in online communication spaces during Australian environmental conflicts. Focusing on the UNESCO 2021 'in danger' recommendation for the Great Barrier Reef for 6 weeks, this mixed-methods study
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Work and the public understanding of science. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-21 Robert M Kunovich
This study examines whether engaging in science work and work that is substantively complex (e.g. requiring independent thought and judgment) is related to interest in science, science knowledge, and confidence in the scientific community in the United States. It also examines whether the conditions of work mediate the relationship between education and these science-related outcomes. Occupation-level