Yasar University, Turkey.
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany.
Public Underst Sci. 2024 Jan;33(1):2-19. doi: 10.1177/09636625231176935. Epub 2023 Jun 12.
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 countries. We tested this prediction in two nationally representative and probabilistic cross-cultural data sets (Study 1: 142 countries, = 40,085; Study 2: 47 countries, = 69,332), and found that the positive association between education and trust in scientists (Study 1) and science (Study 2) was weaker or non-existent in highly corrupt countries. The results did not change after statistically controlling for age, sex, household income, and residence. We suggest future research to be more considerate of the societal context in understanding how education status correlates with trust in science and scientists.
信任科学和科学家的一个最突出的相关因素是教育水平，这可能是因为受过教育的人具有更高的科学知识和思维能力，这表明信任科学和科学家更多地依赖于反思性思维能力。然而，在高度腐败的国家中，受过高等教育的人更有可能怀疑权威人士。我们在两个具有全国代表性和概率性的跨文化数据集（研究 1：142 个国家，n=40085；研究 2：47 个国家，n=69332）中检验了这一预测，发现教育与对科学家（研究 1）和科学（研究 2）的信任之间的正相关关系在高度腐败的国家中较弱或不存在。在经过统计学控制年龄、性别、家庭收入和居住地后，结果并未改变。我们建议未来的研究更要考虑社会背景，以了解教育程度如何与对科学和科学家的信任相关联。
