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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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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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Dealing with dissent from the medical ranks: Public health authorities and COVID-19 communication. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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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Neuroscience explanations really do satisfy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the seductive allure of neuroscience. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) 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 3.702) 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 3.702) 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
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Media framings of the role of genomics in "addiction" in the United States from 2015 to 2019: Individualized risk, biomedical expertise, and the limits of destigmatization. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-09-02 Katherine Hendy
News coverage of the opioid epidemic is a useful site for examining genomic framings of addiction. Qualitative analysis of 139 articles published in the United States from 2015 to 2019 discussing genomics, addiction, and the opioid epidemic found an emphasis on both a postgenomic framing in which genetics operates in relation to social and environmental factors, and a molecularized understanding of
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Does knowledge make a difference? Understanding how the lay public and experts assess the credibility of information on novel foods. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-09-01 Mengxue Ou,Shirley S Ho
Drawing on Metzger's dual-processing model of credibility assessment, this study examines how individuals with varying topical knowledge (laypersons vs experts) assess the credibility of information on novel foods. Online focus group discussions reveal that both groups share similar motivations for assessing the credibility of information on novel foods (e.g. personal relevance and concerns about the
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The divide so wide: Public perspectives on the role of human genome editing in the US healthcare system. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-08-28 John P Nelson,David C Tomblin,Avery Barbera,Melissa Smallwood
We report findings from two open-framed focus groups eliciting informed public opinion about the rapidly developing technology of human genome editing in the context of the US healthcare system. Results reveal that participants take a dim view of the present healthcare system, articulating extensive concerns about the accessibility and affordability of care. They feel that, unless these problems are
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The invisible frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining sourcing and the underrepresentation of female expertise in pandemic news coverage. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-08-26 Austin Y Hubner
Several studies have shown that female experts are seldom quoted within news media coverage about health and science issues. Yet, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent race for a vaccine, female health and science workers (broadly defined) were at the forefront of the discovery, testing, and implementation of several vaccinations. This study examines the extent to which female experts were represented
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When experts matter: Variations in consensus messaging for vaccine and genetically modified organism safety. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-08-19 Benjamin A Lyons,Vittorio Mérola,Jason Reifler,Anna Katharina Spälti,Christine Stedtnitz,Florian Stoeckel
Does consensus messaging about contested science issues influence perceptions of consensus and/or personal beliefs? This question remains open, particularly for topics other than climate change and samples outside the United States. In a Spanish national sample (N = 5087), we use preregistered survey experiments to examine differential efficacy of variations in consensus messaging for vaccines and
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Comparing the influence of intellectual humility, religiosity, and political conservatism on vaccine attitudes in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-08-19 Jesse L Preston,Abdullah Khan
Three studies of US, Canada, and UK respondents examined pro-vaccine attitudes as predicted by intellectual humility, belief in science, religiosity, and political attitudes. Intellectual humility refers to the capacity to understand limits of one's own beliefs and showed strong relationship to pro-vaccine attitudes across samples. Pro-vaccine attitudes were correlated with intellectual humility and
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Engaging the dismissive: An assessment of humor-based strategies to support global warming action. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-08-12 Meaghan McKasy,Michael A Cacciatore,Sara K Yeo,Jennifer Shiyue Zhang,John Cook,Rhoda Olaleye,Leona Yi-Fan Su
This study aims to understand the influence of mirth, anger, and hope, as elicited by messages with different humor types, on support for global warming action, and the potential moderating role of individual climate concern. Although mirth did not significantly vary across the different stimuli, the analysis found that climate concern moderated the influence of hope on support for global warming actions
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Autonomy and bioethics in fan responses to Orphan Black. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-08-10 Ayden Eilmus,Avery Bradley,Jay Clayton
Viewers' responses to Orphan Black (2013-2017), a popular, genetics-themed sci-fi television series, reveal much about public understanding of the ethical challenges associated with genetic science. In this article, we assess how fans of Orphan Black process the bioethical themes that are prominent in the show through an analysis of 182 viewer-created blog posts. Using a mixed methods approach, our
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The political leaning of the neuroscience discourse about school education in the French press from 2000 to 2020. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-08-05 Cédric Brun,Marie Penavayre,Francois Gonon
Political actors pay attention to newspapers because they stimulate them to address a topic, reflect public opinion, provide feedback to their decisions, and help them to generate effective messages. Previous surveys showed that this is true for scientific issues. It follows that the newspaper coverage of scientific issues should appear as politically oriented, as observed regarding climate change
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Lay metrology and metroscoping: Towards the study of lay units. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-08-04 Mike Michael
This exploratory article provides groundwork towards a tentative framework for exploring how lay measures and units - what is here called 'lay metrology' - intersect with formal metrology, and its various mediations. This article concerns itself with the role that everyday 'units' - grounded in part in the material culture of bodies and experience - play in relation to a metrological landscape, or
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Between data providers and concerned citizens: Exploring participation in precision public health in Switzerland. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-07-17 Nolwenn Bühler,Annika Frahsa,Réjane Morand Bourqui,Natalie Von Götz,Murielle Bochud,Francesco Panese
This empirical article explores the dynamics of exchange and reciprocity between cohorters, that is, study organizers, and cohortees, that is, study participants. Drawing on literature on bioeconomy and valuation, we analyze cohortees' expectations in return for the "clinical labor" they perform in the pilot phase of a Swiss precision public health study. Based on an ethnography of this cohort and
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Threatening experts: Correlates of viewing scientists as a social threat. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-07-10 Sedona Chinn,Ariel Hasell,Jessica Roden,Brianna Zichettella
Despite widespread trust in scientists, efforts to curtail their influence suggest some Americans distrust scientists and may even perceive them to be a social threat. Using panel survey data, we examine who holds this viewpoint and potential implications of threat perceptions. Results suggest Republicans and Evangelical identifying individuals perceived more social threat from scientists. News media
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Different periods, similar challenges, opposing paths: Exploring the social structure of popular science magazines in Turkey. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-07-07 Emre Canpolat
This study questions the social relations behind the challenges that popular science magazines in Turkey have faced from their onset, by focusing on the peculiarities of different historical periods and prevailing relations of production. The history of popular science magazines from the Ottoman Empire to the present day is also the history of the transition from artisan-like relations of production
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COVID-19 coverage from six network and cable news sources in the United States: Representation of misinformation, correction, and portrayals of severity. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-07-04 Erin K Maloney,Allie J White,Litty Samuel,Michele Boehm,Amy Bleakley
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is marked by divisions in perceptions of disease severity as well as misperceptions about the virus and vaccine that vary along ideological and political party lines. Perceptual differences may be due to differences in the information about the virus that individuals are exposed to within their own identity-affirming ideological news bubbles. This content
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Facts do not speak for themselves: Community norms, dialog, and evidentiary practices in discussions of COVID-19 on Reddit. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-07-04 Mark Felton,Ellen Middaugh,Henry Fan
The present study sought to explore the distinct discourse norms and evidentiary practices in discussions of COVID-19 in four subcommunities on Reddit. Qualitative analysis found that communities differed in the degree to which they reinforce and augment Reddit's platform-wide norms for dialog and evidence use. One of the three communities (r/AskTrumpSupporters) differed from the rest by establishing
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Public perceptions of climate tipping points. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-06-28 Rob Bellamy
Coverage of climate tipping points has rapidly increased over the past 20 years. Despite this upsurge, there has been precious little research into how the public perceives these abrupt and/or irreversible large-scale risks. This article provides a nationally representative view on public perceptions of climate tipping points and possible societal responses to them (n = 1773). Developing a mixed-methods
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Predictors of young people's anti-vaccine attitudes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-06-28 Lucrezia Crescenzi-Lanna,Riccardo Valente,Silvia Cataldi,Fabrizio Martire
The objective of this research was to explore how attitudes to science and scientists may be related to anti-vax positions and whether the psychological trait known as Need for Closure may influence the relationship between any or all of these attitudes. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 1128 young people aged 18-25 living in Italy during the COVID-19 health crisis. Based on the results
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The positive association of education with the trust in science and scientists is weaker in highly corrupt countries. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-06-12 Sinan Alper,Busra Elif Yelbuz,Sumeyra Bengisu Akkurt,Onurcan Yilmaz
One of the most prominent correlates of trust in science and scientists is education level, possibly because educated individuals have higher levels of science knowledge and thinking ability, suggesting that trusting science and scientists relies more on reflective thinking abilities. However, it is relatively more reasonable for highly educated individuals to suspect authority figures in highly corrupt
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Indicators of trustworthiness in lay-friendly research summaries: Scientificness surpasses easiness. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-06-05 Mark Jonas,Martin Kerwer,Anita Chasiotis,Tom Rosman
Lay readers' trust in scientific texts can be shaped by perceived text easiness and scientificness. The two effects seem vital in a time of rapid science information sharing, yet have so far only been examined separately. A preregistered online study was conducted to assess them jointly, to probe for author and text trustworthiness overlap, and to investigate interindividual influences on the effects
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Believing in science: Linking religious beliefs and identity with vaccination intentions and trust in science during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-06-05 Emily Tippins,Renate Ysseldyk,Claire Peneycad,Hymie Anisman
Despite evidence supporting numerous scientific issues (e.g. climate change, vaccinations) many people still doubt the legitimacy of science. Moreover, individuals may be prone to scepticism about scientific findings that misalign with their ideological beliefs and identities. This research investigated whether trust in science (as well as government and media) and COVID-19 vaccination intentions varied
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The next generation of climate scientists as science communicators. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-06-02 Christel W van Eck
Climate scientists face many challenges when it comes to communicating their work to the public, yet it is largely unknown how junior climate scientists give meaning to their role as science communicators. Therefore, the current research conducted five focus group discussions with Dutch junior climate scientists, which were structured around the following themes: (a) common barriers; (b) climate advocacy;
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Older people's attitudes towards emerging technologies: A systematic literature review. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-19 Mengxi Zhang
Public attitudes towards technology have been studied extensively for decades, but older people were not largely involved in early studies. In recent years, with the trend of digitalisation and the rapid growth of the older population around the world, the attitudes of older people towards emerging technologies have attracted the attention of researchers. This article is a systematic review of 83 relevant
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How pandemic-related changes in global attitudes toward the scientific community shape "post-pandemic" environmental opinion. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-19 Matt Motta,Salil Benegal
Low public concern about anthropogenic climate change (ACC)-due in part to distrust in the scientific community-may decrease demand for policies aimed at mitigating its deleterious effects. Encouragingly, though, recent research finds that experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated trust in scientific expertise worldwide. We explore the possibility that positive attitudes toward the medical
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Examining expertise: Synthetic biology experts' perceptions of risk, benefit, and the public for research and applications regulation. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-19 Christopher D Wirz,Emily L Howell,Dietram A Scheufele,Dominique Brossard,Michael A Xenos
Scientific experts can play an important role in decision-making surrounding policy for technical and value-laden issues, often in contexts that directly affect lay publics. Yet little is known about what characterizes scientific experts who want lay public involvement in decision-making. In this study, we examine how synthetic biology experts' perceptions of risks, benefits, and ambivalence for synthetic
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Lay representations of artificial intelligence and autonomous military machines. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-17 Wolfgang Wagner,Auli Viidalepp,Naia Idoiaga-Mondragon,Kairi Talves,Eleri Lillemäe,Janar Pekarev,Markus Otsus
This study is about how lay persons perceive and represent artificial intelligence in general as well as its use in weaponised autonomous ground vehicles in the military context. We analysed the discourse of six focus groups in Estonia, using an automatic text analysis tool and complemented the results by a qualitative thematic content analysis. The findings show that representations of artificial
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Comparing the effects of simple and refutational narratives in misinformation correction: The moderating roles of correction placement and issue involvement. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-17 Weirui Wang,Yan Huang
The study examines whether adding a refutational ending to narrative messages improves correction effectiveness and how the effect differs depending on whether the correction message is presented before or after exposure to misinformation. A 2 (narrative format: simple vs refutational narrative) × 2 (correction placement: prebunking vs debunking) between-subjects online experiment (N = 281) with US
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In science we trust? Public trust in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections and accepting anthropogenic climate change. Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-17 Bruce Tranter,Libby Lester,Kerrie Foxwell-Norton,Matthew A Palmer
One barrier to action on climate change is public trust in climate science, and projections made by climate scientists. However, climate science projections are rarely measured in public surveys. We designed survey questions based on two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections regarding global warming and coral reef decline. We gauge Australians' trust in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
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The health and environmental risks and rewards of modernity that shape scientific optimism Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-15 Anne M. Price, Lindsey Peterson
Individuals in high-income countries increasingly express less scientific optimism than in lower-income societies. In this article, we utilize risk society theory to understand the complicated rela...
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Breeding by intervening: Exploring the role of associations and deliberation in consumer acceptance of different breeding techniques Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-09 Paul Nales, Arnout R.H. Fischer
New plant breeding techniques may play an important role in improving food quality, global food security and sustainability. Previous breeding techniques have, however, met with substantial resista...
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Dunning–Kruger effect and flat-earthers: An exploratory analysis Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Jose Luis Arroyo-Barrigüete, Carlos Bellón Núñez-Mera, Jesús Labrador Fernández, Victor Luis De Nicolas
This article aims to analyze the factors influencing belief in a flat Earth. We focus on Spain, a country that sadly has some of the most relevant figures on this topic in the Spanish-speaking worl...
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Science communication on Twitter: Measuring indicators of engagement and their links to user interaction in communication scholars’ Tweet content Public Understanding of Science (IF 3.702) Pub Date : 2023-05-02 Lars Guenther, Claudia Wilhelm, Corinna Oschatz, Janise Brück
Scientists increasingly use Twitter for communication about science. The microblogging service has been heralded for its potential to foster public engagement with science; thus, measuring how enga...