🚨 New preprint 🚨 Are climate scientists less trusted than scientists in general? 🤔🌍 Yes, we find evidence of a significant trust gap between climate scientists and scientists in general. 👇🧵 osf.io/preprints/os... - ThreadSky

colognaviktoria.bsky.social • 95 days ago

🚨 New preprint 🚨

Are climate scientists less trusted than scientists in general? 🤔🌍

Yes, we find evidence of a significant trust gap between climate scientists and scientists in general. 👇🧵 https://osf.io/preprints/osf/f3qbu

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colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

Over the last decades, climate change countermovements have actively sought to undermine trust in climate scientists and their findings. Yet, little is known about whether trust in climate scientists differs from trust in scientists in general across the world. 2/7

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

Out of 68 investigated countries, 43 showed lower trust in climate scientists compared to scientists in general, 19 showed no significant difference in trust ratings, and six showed higher trust in climate scientists. 3/7

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

We investigated the predictors of this trust gap and found that right-leaning and conservative ideologies often predict a stronger negative impact on trust in climate scientists than scientists in general. 4/7

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

➡️ Lower trust in climate scientists may reflect the successful efforts of the conservative countermovement to sow doubt about the integrity of climate scientists and their conclusions. 5/7

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

💡Finding ways to reduce this trust gap is key, as trust in scientists is important for accepting recommendations grounded in scientists’ findings and could help speed up action on climate change. 🌍 6/7

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thanks to @omidghasemi.bsky.social for his great leadership & co-authors on Bluesky @nielsmede.bsky.social @fabiovelo.bsky.social @johnbesley.bsky.social @cameronbrick.bsky.social @scicomguy.bsky.social @sabinamihelj.bsky.social @naomioreskes.bsky.social @mss7676.bsky.social @markalfano.bsky.social

benecal.bsky.social•80 days ago

Or maybe… change belief in conservative ideologies?

smoroi.bsky.social•94 days ago

Thanks for the share, Mike - 👋🏼 - just joined up here on Bluesky. Hope you'll give me a shot!

drcj.bsky.social•80 days ago

I find it fascinating (horrific) that if a (scientific) paper is published suggesting a certain food is going to ⬆️ cancer risk, it’s all over the headlines.
But if an action is proven to ⬆️ climate deaths, it’s largely been ignored by the media.

prizscisurf.bsky.social•94 days ago

Fossil fuel industry has invested millions in mistrust and it has paid dividends.

pmk-de.bsky.social•94 days ago

Climate science is imho the most politicized field and most in the line of fire. As such, the scientists are doing a pretty good job to fight against deniers. It's multi-disciplinary.

micefearboggis.bsky.social•95 days ago

Do you know how the trust gaps compares to other scientific subdisciplines? I wonder if specifying a subdiscipline would generally lead to reduced trust.

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

That's a good question. Unfortunately, we didn't ask about trust in other subdisciplines. There is some comparative data by the Pew Research Center on environmental researchers vs medical researchers: https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2019/08/02/americans-generally-view-medical-professionals-favorably-but-about-half-consider-misconduct-a-big-problem/

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

And this article by Myers et al. showing that in the US, federal agencies' general science research is more trusted than their climate science research: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963662516636040

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

There is also research by @marlephie.bsky.social et al. showing that trust in scientists varies across disciplines depending on people's own political orientation and the perceived political orientation of scientists in different disciplines. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10755470231221770

micefearboggis.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thanks!

poliscichick.bsky.social•80 days ago

I was not part of @colognaviktoria.bsky.social’s research but, if I may: what Ms. Cologna’s observed, is to my knowledge, accurate.

You *do* see this in other scientific subdisciplines as well. The common thread is lobbying.

Climate change, smoking, meat—It’s a question of politics, not science.

poliscichick.bsky.social•80 days ago

Additionally, the more embedded a contributing behavior is to habit &/or identity, the more likely you are to see pushback and skepticism.

davidho.bsky.social•95 days ago

Do you have a sense of what it is they don't trust about climate scientists? Do they think we're exaggerating cause/effect/impact for research funding?

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

In a review article, we identified the following reasons: perceived alarmism; concerns that funding structures bias climate scientists; beliefs that scientists gain from overstating results; perceptions that some practices are exclusionary and not transparent. https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000400

colognaviktoria.bsky.social•95 days ago

Note that these studies mostly focused on climate skeptics in the US.

davidho.bsky.social•95 days ago

The result from China is interesting.

fluidsguru.bsky.social•80 days ago

Is this a possible factor in the China result ?

https://bsky.app/profile/doctorvive.bsky.social/post/3law7r2lits2r

doctorvive.bsky.social•80 days ago

It's the other way around. The trust in scientists and the understanding that climate change is real and dangerous precedes the enactment of China's climate policies.

rupe.bsky.social•94 days ago

Could it also be the mainly negative messaging that comes from climate science 'things are getting worse' (and the associated lifestyle-change implications) rather than the more positive messaging from, say, medical science, 'here's an amazing new cancer treatment'?

susannanakin.bsky.social•80 days ago

📌

micefearboggis.bsky.social•95 days ago

Oof

davidho.bsky.social•95 days ago

We should have studied giant panda herbivory.

micefearboggis.bsky.social•95 days ago

Yup.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day watching videos of giant pandas.

davidho.bsky.social•95 days ago

daniel.556gauge.com•80 days ago

Well that’s awfully fucked

vpski.bsky.social•80 days ago

It seems more transparency could be achieved by more public exposure. Might news interviews be one way, especially those that raise up the accurate truth in a moderately phrased way?

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