Abstract
We review recent work on the relationship between science rejection and conspiracy beliefs. We distinguish between conspiracy beliefs about science specifically and the link between general conspiracist worldviews and science rejection. The first imply the scientific community as the center of a conspiratorial endeavor to misrepresent scientific findings. We outline several potential contributors to these beliefs: science is a social enterprise; its policy implications can clash with deeply held personal beliefs; science is inherently uncertain. Second, more general conspiracist thinking and worldviews also contribute to science rejection, for example in the domains of climate change, vaccination and genetic modification. This could be exacerbated by several cognitive biases associated with conspiratorial thinking. Finally, we briefly review pathways to curb (conspiratorial) science rejection.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101392 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-6 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Current Opinion in Psychology |
| Volume | 46 |
| Early online date | 14 Jun 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2022 |
Funding
This writing of this paper was supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 849125).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Horizon 2020 | |
| European Research Council | |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 849125 |