Pennycook Gordon, Bago Bence, McPhetres Jonathon
Hill/Levene Schools of Business, University of Regina.
Institute for Advanced Study, University of Toulouse.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2023 Jan;152(1):80-97. doi: 10.1037/xge0001267. Epub 2022 Aug 4.
Some theoretical models assume that a primary source of contention surrounding science belief is political and that partisan disagreement drives beliefs; other models focus on basic science knowledge and cognitive sophistication, arguing that they facilitate proscientific beliefs. To test these competing models, we identified a range of controversial issues subject to potential ideological disagreement and examined the roles of political ideology, science knowledge, and cognitive sophistication on science beliefs. Our results indicate that there was surprisingly little partisan disagreement on a wide range of contentious scientific issues. We also found weak evidence for identity-protective cognition (where cognitive sophistication exacerbates partisan disagreement); instead, cognitive sophistication (i.e., reasoning ability) was generally associated with proscience beliefs. In two studies focusing on anthropogenic climate change, we found that increased political motivations did not increase polarization among individuals who are higher in cognitive sophistication, which indicates that increased political motivations might not have as straightforward an impact on science beliefs as has been assumed in the literature. Finally, our findings indicate that basic science knowledge is the most consistent predictor of people's beliefs about science across a wide range of issues. These results suggest that educators and policymakers should focus on increasing basic science literacy and critical thinking rather than on the ideologies that purportedly divide people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
一些理论模型认为，围绕科学信念的主要争议来源是政治因素，党派分歧驱动着信念；其他模型则关注基础科学知识和认知成熟度，认为它们有助于形成支持科学的信念。为了检验这些相互竞争的模型，我们确定了一系列可能存在意识形态分歧的争议性问题，并考察了政治意识形态、科学知识和认知成熟度在科学信念形成过程中的作用。我们的研究结果表明，在一系列有争议的科学问题上，党派分歧出人意料地少。我们还发现了身份保护认知（认知成熟度会加剧党派分歧）的证据不足；相反，认知成熟度（即推理能力）通常与支持科学的信念相关。在两项聚焦于人为气候变化的研究中，我们发现，政治动机的增强并没有加剧认知成熟度较高的个体之间的两极分化，这表明政治动机的增强对科学信念的影响可能并不像文献中所假设的那样直接。最后，我们的研究结果表明，基础科学知识是人们在广泛问题上对科学信念的最一致预测指标。这些结果表明，教育工作者和政策制定者应专注于提高基础科学素养和批判性思维，而不是那些据称会导致人们产生分歧的意识形态。（《心理学文摘数据库记录》（c）2023美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
