Rios Kimberly, Roth Zachary C, Coleman Thomas J
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820.
Department of Psychology, University of Maine at Augusta, Augusta, ME 04330.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jul 8;122(27):e2400930121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2400930121. Epub 2025 Jun 30.
Growing identity-based and partisan gaps in confidence in scientists and scientific institutions call for novel approaches to science communication. In this perspectives piece, we focus on the need for greater intellectual humility (i.e., willingness to revise one's views and admit that one might be wrong) among social scientists, who are met with particularly high levels of skepticism from the public. We begin with an overview of research demonstrating that when scientists' identities or ideologies align (or are perceived to align) with those of the public, trust in science increases. We then highlight intellectual humility as a potential tool for cultivating trust in the social sciences even when social scientists' and the public's identities or ideologies do not match. Specifically, intellectual humility among social scientists predicts less bias toward one another's research and hence may increase the diversity of perspectives to which the public is exposed and shift public perceptions of social scientists. We conclude with a discussion of how to foster intellectual humility in science communication, broadly defined.
在对科学家和科学机构的信心方面，基于身份认同和党派立场的差距日益扩大，这就需要采用新颖的科学传播方式。在这篇观点文章中，我们关注社会科学家更需要具备智识谦逊（即愿意修正自己的观点并承认自己可能犯错），因为公众对他们的怀疑程度特别高。我们首先概述一些研究，这些研究表明，当科学家的身份或意识形态与公众的身份或意识形态一致（或被认为一致）时，对科学的信任就会增加。然后，我们强调智识谦逊是一种潜在工具，即使社会科学家与公众的身份或意识形态不匹配，也能在社会科学领域培养信任。具体而言，社会科学家的智识谦逊预示着对彼此研究的偏见会减少，因此可能会增加公众接触到的观点的多样性，并改变公众对社会科学家的看法。我们最后讨论如何在广义的科学传播中培养智识谦逊。
