"Overall, science understanding is associated with vaccine and genetic modification food acceptance, but not climate change acceptance."

Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2017 Nov 1:146167217741314. doi: 10.1177/0146167217741314. [Epub ahead of print]

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

Rutjens BT1, Sutton RM2, van der Lee R3.

Author information

1

1 University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2

2 University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

3

3 VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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.