‘We need to frame science differently for skeptical people’
UvA psychologist Bastiaan Rutjens has concluded that skepticism about issues like climate change stems from political conviction, while skepticism about vaccinations is connected to religious beliefs.
In a number of representative studies conducted in North America, the researchers presented online questions and propositions to respondents including statements like, ‘Human CO2 emissions lead to climate change’ and ‘Vaccinations lead to autism’. The results were published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
They also questioned the respondents on their general scientific knowledge and asked them to indicate the level of importance they thought the government should attribute science. This is how Rutjens discovered that skepticism in relation to climate change is often linked to political convictions: the more conservative the respondent, the more skeptical. Rutjens found that skepticism about vaccinations, on the other hand, is often linked to religious beliefs, with the more orthodox respondents displaying more skepticism.
Progressive
Skepticism regarding science cannot be solved by increasing knowledge about science (or, ‘scientific literacy’) Rutjens says. ‘For people who are skeptical about science for political or religious reasons, it’s better to frame the science in a different way. For example, we have seen that conservative people are more open to the climate problem when references are made to the past and not the future. You have to shift the focus to convince them that we have a climate problem.’
