Psychology News
A team of researchers at the University of Bath explored what drives our negative attitudes toward science. The study is published in the journal PLOS Biology.
The Study
The researchers surveyed 2000 adults across the UK. The participants filled out questionnaires about their attitudes to science and their belief in their own understanding.
The Findings
The results revealed that strong self-belief underpinned all strong attitudes toward scientific knowledge. Attitudinal extremes depended on people’s high belief in their own level of understanding.
The researchers elaborated: “Confronting negative attitudes towards science held by some people will likely involve deconstructing what they think they know about science and replacing it with more accurate understanding. This is quite challenging.”
To Know More You May Refer To
Fonseca, C., Pettitt, J., Woollard, A., Rutherford, A., Bickmore, W., Ferguson-Smith, A., & Hurst, L. D. (2023). People with more extreme attitudes towards science have self-confidence in their understanding of science, even if this is not justified. PLOS Biology, 21(1), e3001915. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001915