Abstract
Abstract Previous research has shown that uncertainty communication by scientists (i. e., expressing reservations towards their own research) increases the public’s trust in their work. The reasons for this have not been elucidated, however. In the present study, we provide a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon. Specifically, we expected that attributed communicator bias would mediate the effect of uncertainty communication on trust. Results from a mixed-design experiment (N = 88), using modified science news articles, revealed support for this hypothesis. Positive effects of uncertainty communication on trust and donation intention were both mediated by attributed communicator bias.
Highlights
Trust in scientists is an important factor in determining informed judgments on issues such as technology, climate, or health (Retzbach, Otto, and Maier, 2016)
Hypothesis 1 was tested, which states that uncertainty in science news articles positively influences trust in the scientist mentioned in the article
Trust is an important factor in holding the fabric of society together
Summary
Trust in scientists is an important factor in determining informed judgments on issues such as technology, climate, or health (Retzbach, Otto, and Maier, 2016). There is sometimes an incentive to communicate uncertainty in circumstances where it increases the chances of further research funding (Mellor, 2010), scientists fear a loss of authority when they express uncertainty about their work (Post, 2016; Post and Maier, 2016) These fears may be unwarranted: There exists no compelling evidence that communicating scientific uncertainty negatively affects public perceptions of science. Empirical research on the effects of uncertainty communication on perceptions of science or scientists sometimes yields positive effects (Crismore and Vande Kopple, 1997; Jensen, 2008; Retzbach et al, 2016), and sometimes yields no effects (Binder, Hillback, and Brossard, 2016; Jensen et al, 2011; Ratcliff, Jensen, Christy, Crossley, and Krakow, 2018; Thiebach, Mayweg-Paus, and Jucks, 2015; Winter, Kramer, Rosner, and Neubaum, 2015) These contradictory findings show that uncertainty has different effects in different contexts. The current research explores to what extent the effect on trust of communicating uncertainty in science communication can be explained by attribution of communicator bias
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