Science rejection in Greece: Spirituality predicts vaccine scepticism and low faith in science in a Greek sample

Bastiaan T. Rutjens*, Natalia Zarzeczna, Romy van der Lee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Recent research has identified spirituality as an important contributor to vaccine scepticism and low faith in science, particularly in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) nations. In the present study, we further tested the generalizability of these findings in a religious South-Eastern European country – Greece, with more extensive measures of key constructs. We replicate previous work using measures of improved construct validity. Spirituality was found to be the strongest predictor of vaccine scepticism and low faith in science. In addition, low science literacy was also predictive of vaccine rejection. Climate change scepticism was not associated with spirituality but with political conservatism, which corroborates previous findings. These results provide further evidence for two previously made observations: science scepticism is heterogeneous, and spirituality is an important factor in shaping science rejection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)428-436
Number of pages9
JournalPublic Understanding of Science
Volume31
Issue number4
Early online date1 Dec 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Evrydiki Fournaraki for her assistance with data collection and Panos Rentzelas and Evrydiki Fournaraki for translating the materials to Greek. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Keywords

  • environment
  • generalizability
  • health
  • science and religion
  • science scepticism
  • spirituality
  • WEIRD

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