According to the authors of the new work, anti-science beliefs have four bases. These are: lack of trust in scientific sources; identification with groups with anti-scientific views; the scientific message goes against the person’s current beliefs; inconsistency between the way the message is presented and the way the person thinks.
“People have a hard time dealing with these kinds of conflicts, and so it’s easier for them to simply reject scientific information that doesn’t fit into what they believe yet,” the scientists said.
The authors also noted a noticeable increase in sensitivity to science in recent years. This was especially noticeable during the pandemic, when anti-vaccine protesters showed up. “Vaccines were the standard thing everyone got. But in recent years there have been several events that have forced people to oppose the scientific consensus on vaccines and other issues,” he said. One of these developments, of course, is the growing popularity of social networks and various sources of information, where people can interpret facts pleasantly. The researchers also point to another related phenomenon: the growing importance of political ideology in the modern world.
Source: Ferra
