Dataset Information

Not All Skepticism Is Equal: Exploring the Ideological Antecedents of Science Acceptance and Rejection.

ABSTRACT: Many topics that scientists investigate speak to people's ideological worldviews. We report three studies-including an analysis of large-scale survey data-in which we systematically investigate the ideological antecedents of general faith in science and willingness to support science, as well as of science skepticism of climate change, vaccination, and genetic modification (GM). The main predictors are religiosity and political orientation, morality, and science understanding. Overall, science understanding is associated with vaccine and GM food acceptance, but not climate change acceptance. Importantly, different ideological predictors are related to the acceptance of different scientific findings. Political conservatism best predicts climate change skepticism. Religiosity, alongside moral purity concerns, best predicts vaccination skepticism. GM food skepticism is not fueled by religious or political ideology. Finally, religious conservatives consistently display a low faith in science and an unwillingness to support science. Thus, science acceptance and rejection have different ideological roots, depending on the topic of investigation.

SUBMITTER: Rutjens BT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5810918 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Not All Skepticism Is Equal: Exploring the Ideological Antecedents of Science Acceptance and Rejection.

Rutjens Bastiaan T BT Sutton Robbie M RM van der Lee Romy R

Personality & social psychology bulletin 20171201 3

Many topics that scientists investigate speak to people's ideological worldviews. We report three studies-including an analysis of large-scale survey data-in which we systematically investigate the ideological antecedents of general faith in science and willingness to support science, as well as of science skepticism of climate change, vaccination, and genetic modification (GM). The main predictors are religiosity and political orientation, morality, and science understanding. Overall, science u ...[more]

PMID: 29191107

Similar Datasets

Project description:Objective: The high didactic potential of Virtual Reality (VR) contrasts with the point of view of students that the technology only has a relatively low significance for current and future teaching. This discrepancy was studied in a differentiated manner in order to gear the further development and implementation of VR towards the target group. Methods: From January 2020 to July 2020, medical students (N=318) were asked to watch ten videos online and rate them on the basis of acceptance indicators (e.g., fun and fairness). Using obstetrics as an example, the videos demonstrated five levels of VR technology functionality (e.g., haptic and adaptive feedback), some of which were visionary, in two use scenarios (teaching and the OSCE). The individual and aggregate indicators were compared with non-parametric testing procedures across application scenarios, functional levels and genders. In addition, correlations between the acceptance and the factors of semester, age, computer affinity, and previous VR experience were analyzed. Results: Across all functional levels, VR was more likely to be accepted in the classroom than in the OSCE. Comparisons across functional levels also revealed that the VR ready to be marketed was significantly more accepted than the visionary functions. This skepticism toward advancing VR technology was most pronounced with regard to the vision of autonomous VR examinations and among female students with a low computer affinity. Conclusion: The results suggest that the students' reservations are due to a lack of experience with the VR technology. In order for young physicians to become familiar with the technology and to be able to use it competently in the everyday clinical practice in the future, VR should not only be used as a teaching tool but also be part of the curriculum. Practical examinations using VR, on the other hand, are only recommended once the technology has become established in teaching and has been proven to be reliable.

Dataset Information

Not All Skepticism Is Equal: Exploring the Ideological Antecedents of Science Acceptance and Rejection.

Publications

Not All Skepticism Is Equal: Exploring the Ideological Antecedents of Science Acceptance and Rejection.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets