Public Skepticism Research Articles

Drivers and attitudes of public support for technological solutions to climate change in 30 countries

Abstract Some experts contend that addressing global climate challenges requires consideration of technologies such as Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and, possibly, Solar Radiation Modification (SRM). Previous studies, primarily centered on the OECD region, have indicated that most of these technologies are contentious, eliciting low levels of public support. By conducting a set of nationally representative surveys examining seven CDR and three SRM technologies in 30 countries, we show that public skepticism is most prominent in wealthier countries. Respondents from these countries express lower confidence in the potential of science and technology to address climate change, diminished trust in industry, and expect to experience less personal harm from climate change. At the same time, there are many countries, not previously studied, where the levels of support for CDR and SRM are relatively high. As middle-income countries, their capability to effectively implement these technologies may be deficient; additionally, there is a risk of the unilateral implementation of certain technologies with uncertain implications in terms of their impacts on climate. This underscores the necessity for long term climate strategies that are context-specific and tailored to individual countries, while moreover emphasizing the imperative for extensive international collaboration, including through technological and financial transfers. Finally, strong international governance structures, especially in the context of SRM, are crucial to ensure a responsible approach towards these technologies.

In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: An Ethical Exploration of Citizen Assessments of American University Presidents’ Political Endorsements

Higher education leaders sometimes transgress norms of political involvement. Despite some norm-violating behaviors, legal consequences are sparse. Some argue that this is based on concerns over taxpayers impugning regulators’ motives as partisan. Public skepticism is warranted, especially as university officials engage in unlawful forms of political activism that can go unenforced. What explains citizens’ tolerance for norm-violating political activities within higher education institutions? Furthermore, what drives citizens to blame some leaders for engaging in legally precarious political behaviors while providing more latitude for others who act similarly? Drawing from research on citizen accountability as well as partisan cue-led attitudes, authors argue that tolerance for political involvement in higher education contexts is explained by an institutional leader’s partisanship and sectoral type, that is, private versus public institution. To test these claims, authors fielded a survey experiment drawing on a Lucid panel. Findings show evidence that a leader’s partisanship and the institution’s sectoral type influence individuals’ acceptance or rejection of a university president’s endorsement of a political candidate, dependent upon the respondent’s partisan characteristics. Findings also confirm the emerging politicization of higher educational spaces, highlighting the implications for understanding public perceptions of higher education leaders’ political involvement and the impact on the sector.

Unveiling public perceptions at the beginning of lockdown: an application of structural topic modeling and sentiment analysis in the UK and India

BackgroundThe appearance of the COVID-19 virus in December 2019, quickly escalated into a global crisis, prompting the World Health Organization to recommend regional lockdowns. While effective in curbing the virus’s spread, these measures have triggered intense debates on social media platforms, exposing widespread public anxiety and skepticism. The spread of fake news further fueled public unrest and negative emotions, potentially undermining the effectiveness of anti-COVID-19 policies. Exploring the narratives surrounding COVID-19 on social media immediately following the lockdown announcements presents an intriguing research avenue. The purpose of this study is to examine social media discourse to identify the topics discussed and, more importantly, to analyze differences in the focus and emotions expressed by the public in two countries (the UK and India). This is done with an analysis of a big corpus of tweets.MethodsThe datasets comprised of COVID-19-related tweets in English, published between March 29th and April 11th 2020 from residents in the UK and India. Methods employed in the analysis include identification of latent topics and themes, assessment of the popularity of tweets on topic distributions, examination of the overall sentiment, and investigation of sentiment in specific topics and themes.ResultsSafety measures, government responses and cooperative supports are common themes in the UK and India. Personal experiences and cooperations are top discussion for both countries. The impact on specific groups is given the least emphasis in the UK, whereas India places the least focus on discussions related to social media and news reports. Supports, discussion about the UK PM Boris Johnson and appreciation are strong topics among British popular tweets, whereas confirmed cases are discussed most among Indian popular tweets. Unpopular tweets in both countries pay the most attention to issues regarding lockdown. According to overall sentiment, positive attitudes are dominated in the UK whilst the sentiment is more neutral in India. Trust and anticipation are the most prevalent emotions in both countries. In particular, the British population felt positive about community support and volunteering, personal experiences, and government responses, while Indian people felt positive about cooperation, government responses, and coping strategies. Public health situations raise negative sentiment both in the UK and India.ConclusionsThe study emphasizes the role of cultural values in crisis communication and public health policy. Individualistic societies prioritize personal freedom, requiring a balance between individual liberty and public health measures. Collectivistic societies focus on community impact, suggesting policies that could utilize community networks for public health compliance. Social media shapes public discourse during pandemics, with popular and unpopular tweets reflecting and reshaping discussions. The presence of fake news may distort topics of high public interest, necessitating authenticity confirmation by official bloggers. Understanding public concerns and popular content on social media can help authorities tailor crisis communication to improve public engagement and health measure compliance.

Attitudes and Preferences of the Chinese Public Towards Products Made from Recycled Materials: A Text Mining Approach

Products made from recycled materials, as an environmentally friendly option, have attracted public attention. Understanding public attitudes and preferences towards such products is crucial for their market development. In order to explore the Chinese residents’ attitude and emotional tendency, we analyzed public discussions and topics on products made from recycled materials from Sina Weibo. Meanwhile, LDA and BERT deep learning models were employed to assess the level of public attention, hot topics, and sentiment tendencies in China. Results show a significant upward trend in public interest in products made from recycled materials. Although the fact that most people have a positive attitude towards the environmental concept of products made from recycled materials and support such products, there is not a significant demand for products made from recycled materials, i.e., there is a green attitude-behaviour gap. Results further reveal that factors such as the price of products made from recycled materials, branding, and public skepticism about the sustainability of the products are the main reasons for the gap between environmental awareness and consumer behaviour. By analyzing the public's cognitive structure and psychological characteristics regarding products made from recycled materials through social media data, this paper can help recycling manufacturers understand consumers' needs and expectations, as well as assist policymakers in formulating better circular economy policies.

Measuring the rejection of meat alternatives: Development and validation of a new scale

Despite the potential benefits of meat alternatives for the environment and animal welfare, public skepticism remains. This study presents the development and validation of the Meat Alternatives Rejection (MAR) scale. After a pilot study (N = 510) refined the scale from fourteen to ten items, it was validated in a Swiss online survey (N = 1951) through four steps. First, exploratory factor analysis confirmed a one-factor structure with high factor loadings (0.63 to 0.80) and strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90). Second, convergent validity was supported by Pearson correlations with related variables, along with Average Variance Extracted (AVE = 0.525) and Composite Reliability (CR = 0.917). Third, discriminant validity was explored using a Heterotrait-Monotrait (HTMT) ratio of 0.634, indicating that the MAR scale measures a distinct construct. Lastly, MAR’s predictive validity was tested using two regression models: Model 1 (logistic regression) predicted the likelihood of being a meat alternative consumer versus nonconsumer, and Model 2 (two-step linear regression) predicted support for meat alternative marketing restrictions. In both models, the inclusion of MAR significantly improved the explained variance (Model 1:W=83.82,p < 0.001; Model 2:F(1, 1945) = 598.1,p < 0.001), with MAR outperforming other predictors (age, gender, education, meat attachment, and eco-knowledge). Overall, MAR is a robust and reliable tool for measuring consumers’ rejection of meat alternatives, demonstrating factorial, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. This new scale can help advance our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying the shift toward a more plant-based diet.

Vaccine/Vaccination Hesitancy: Challenging Science and Society

Abstract How disasters (e.g., disease, war, and natural disasters) affect people is reflected in their behavior; in the face of a disaster, people are likely to act out of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and panic in terms of self-preservation. Following more than 2 years of living amidst a global pandemic, issues of human behavior, and especially individual and societal resilience in response to disasters, are increasingly gaining focus. The theories of planned behavior and cognitive dissonance can help explain behavioral changes and underlying intrinsic conflicts. Especially in relation to global health, such phenomena as discrimination and exclusion are identified as having a negative impact on efforts to contain infectious diseases. In this context, the question arises of how to encourage members of a global society to behave cohesively in terms of quarantine, social distancing, and vaccination. This article demonstrates the existence of disbelief and misrepresentations in the context of vaccine fatigue and skepticism. While vaccinations have helped improve public health, skepticism, and resistance toward their efficacy are increasing. Looking specifically at the relatively new vaccines inoculating against the coronavirus, this article explores factors contributing to vaccine skepticism, especially with regard to Western Europe and the United States.

Shifting sentiments: analyzing public reaction to COVID-19 containment policies in Wuhan and Shanghai through Weibo data

This study examines the dynamic relationship between China’s COVID-19 containment policies and public sentiment, focusing on the significant lockdowns in Wuhan and Shanghai. We employed natural language processing (NLP) on Weibo text data to uncover how people’s emotions towards these containment measures changed over time and space. Our analysis reveals a critical evolution in public sentiment, transitioning from initial support to growing dissatisfaction, highlighting the impact of ‘pandemic fatigue’ and the socio-economic factors influencing these shifts. This study contributes to understanding the complex interplay between public health strategies and societal reactions, providing practical insights into the spatial variations of sentiment across different demographic and socio-economic groups. By elucidating the causal effects of containment policies on public sentiment and the subsequent rise in public skepticism, our research offers valuable lessons for policymakers in tailoring communication and interventions to mitigate negative public perceptions and foster compliance during health crises.

Populism, Research Integrity, and Trust. How Science-Related Populist Beliefs Shape the Relationship Between Ethical Conduct and Trust in Scientists

Abstract Science-related populism is often used to undermine public trust in science. Good scientific practice contributes to public trust in science, whereas misconduct promotes public skepticism. Since research ethics are a vital part of research integrity, we argue that ethical misconduct potentially undermines trust in scientists, particularly among people with populist beliefs. Drawing on a quota sample of German citizens (N = 1,321), the experimental study examines the influence of ethical conduct on trust in scientists, moderated by science-related populist beliefs. More specifically, we tested the influence of experimental deception (with and without debriefing) using a vignette design. The results of our study showed that ethical misconduct is negatively associated with trust in scientists. In addition, the relationship between ethical misconduct and trust in scientists was influenced by both science-related populist beliefs and science literacy. Although people with high science-related populist beliefs generally placed less trust in scientists, the negative effect was even more pronounced for people with low science-related populist beliefs. Our findings further revealed that ethical misconduct reduces trust in science among people with both low and high science literacy. This demonstrates the importance of researchers transparently discussing and reflecting on ethical research conduct to promote trust in scientists.

Democracy is hot. Or not? Examining the link between political dissatisfaction and democratic support in European democracies

ABSTRACT The article focuses on the evaluative attitudes of citizens and their association with regime support in European democracies. In the context of widespread public scepticism with politics, different findings about the effect of political dissatisfaction in terms of democratic legitimacy have appeared. This may imply that citizens’ attitudes towards politics and their interrelations are complex and that the effects might not be the same across individuals and contexts. To investigate the link between political dissatisfaction and democratic support, data from the European Values Study and hierarchical regression models are used. The results of the analysis suggest that political dissatisfaction is not related to democratic support by highly interested and highly involved citizens. Nevertheless, contrary to the assumptions, the negative effect is quite strong in less corrupt countries, while in corrupt ones it tends to be positively related to democratic support.

Automation scenarios: citizen attitudes towards automated decision-making in the public sector

ABSTRACT This article explores citizen attitudes towards automated decision-making (ADM) in the public sector, addressing concerns related to social justice and transparency. ADM, used in diverse public services, such as benefit application processing, welfare fraud detection and tax calculation, has sparked public interest and scepticism. To shed light on this complex issue and make ADM more accessible for citizens, we presented three domain-specific scenarios in a population-representative survey in Estonia (n = 1,500), Germany (n = 2,001) and Sweden (n = 1,000). These scenarios involved job seeker categorisation, child welfare risk assessment and predictive policing through facial recognition. Drawing from this survey and adopting an exploratory approach, we analyse attitudes across responses to these scenarios and conduct a regression analysis, integrating individual variables such as age, gender, education, awareness, enthusiasm and trust in ADM systems. Our findings reveal differences in citizens’ attitudes based on welfare regimes and individual characteristics. This citizen-focused approach underscores the significance of involving citizens in the governance of ADM in the digital welfare state, transcending the traditional regulatory and stakeholder-centric perspectives.

Tantangan Dalam Mengembangkan Komunikasi Lingkungan Pada Isu Sampah Plastik

In SIPSN KLHK data, plastic waste in Indonesia has significantly increased over the last three years, indicating a growing level of public awareness about the issue. The objective of this article is to achieve optimal environmental communication by describing the challenges in developing environmental communication on the issue of plastic waste, both conventionally and digitally. This aims to serve as a comprehensive review regarding challenges that have not been discussed by previous researchers who did not specify environmental communication challenges related to plastic waste. The research method used is qualitative, utilizing data collection techniques such as interviews, observations, and literature reviews. The interviews and observations were conducted at Bank Sampah Teratai, a waste bank in South Tangerang City. The findings reveal that the challenges in developing environmental communication on plastic waste can be categorized by media (digital and conventional), demographic age groups (teenagers, adults, and seniors), and administrative challenges, all analyzed using Lasswell's theory of communication elements. In conclusion, the primary factors contributing to these challenges are inconsistency and public skepticism. The urgency of this research is the increasing volume of plastic waste annually, which has significant environmental impacts. Therefore, enhancing public awareness about plastic waste through effective environmental communication is crucial. The researcher recommends that environmental communicators focus on addressing solutions to inconsistency and skepticism to mitigate these challenges.

Playful by Design: Embedding Children's Rights into the Digital World

To explore ‘what good looks like’ for children’s play in a digital world,the Digital Futures Commission consulted children, companies, policy makers, regulators and academics. Responding to public scepticism that play online could match the benefits of traditional free play, our research compared insights from play in non-digital and digital contexts and integrated them within a holistic account of how play possibilities emerge from the intersection of people, products and places, conceived at micro, meso and macro levels. This very complexity helps to transcend reductive judgments about digital play and suggests multiple levers for design innovation, synthesised as ‘Playful by Design’ principles. We operationalised these by co-designing an interactive tool for developers and designers of children’s digital play. Finally, by mapping the principles to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, we position play as a use case for the broader agenda of Child Rights by Design.

Exploring Reasons for Support and Hesitancy Towards Covid-19 Vaccines in Malaysia

The Covid-19 pandemic started to spread in Malaysia since February 2020. As of 14 June 2021, there were 662,457 numbers of positive cases, with 586,864 cases of recovery, and 3,968 cases of death (Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2021). The Malaysian Government has set a target of 70% of the total population for vaccination under the National Immunisation Plan for COVID-19 for 2021 (Zainury, 2020). In this regard, the Government has stated that the Covid-19 vaccines will be given free of charge to all Malaysians who agree to accept the vaccines (Harian Metro Online, 2020). As a first step and in order to meet the at least 20% immunisation needs of Malaysians or 6.4 million populationin the country, the Government will obtain a supply of 12.8 million doses of the vaccines in 2021 from the UK Pharmaceutical Company and CONVAX Facility to meet an initial supply of 10% for the country's total population. This vaccine will only be given to Malaysians who agree to accept the vaccines. There has been a euphoria of excitement as well as public skepticism towards the vaccines. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the reasons for acceptance or hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccines among Malaysians. This study used a survey method route to obtain preliminary data on this topic. Descriptive analyses were applied to categorise data and demographic information. Overall, a total of 236 respondents took part in the survey, where it was observed that 157 respondents (66.8%) were agreeable to accept the COVID-19 vaccines whilst 79 others (32.4%) disagreed. The reasons given by the respondents for receiving the vaccines wereself-protection, advice from theMinistry of Health or Government, to protect others from infection, belief in the benefits of the vaccines, and knowledge of the illness. Conversely, among the reasons for vaccines hesitances were being worried about side-effects of the vaccine, did not need a vaccine because they were not infected, not important even though being recommended by the health authorities, fear of getting sick during the vaccination process, perceived ineffectiveness of vaccine, perceived low severity of illness, and non-awareness of this disease/vaccine. This study contributes to the community towards the awareness of the COVID-19 vaccines and can be a source of references by policy-makers in formulating future communicable disease outbreak prevention campaigns and programs.

Colombia's economic relations with China: The role of economics and politics in trade, investment, and economic agreements

AbstractOver the past two decades, many Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries have deepened their economic relationship with China by accepting large amounts of Chinese investments and signing up for China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, Colombia has not followed such a path. Using cross‐border data on trade, investment, and economic agreements, this article demonstrates that Colombia's under‐engagement with China is driven by Colombia's lower competitiveness in the commodities sectors, where Chinese demand for LAC products is highest. Colombia's limited competitiveness has led to lower exports to China and lower amounts of Chinese investment. The low level of bilateral economic activities has resulted in a lack of incentives for Colombia to sign economic agreements with China, as well as general public skepticism toward China and more favorable attitudes toward the United States even though this trend has been on the decline since 2016. Colombia can benefit from strengthening ties with China, without distancing itself from the United States, on issues pertaining to energy transition and the development of rural infrastructure, which will help reduce inequality and broaden export diversification in the medium to long term.

Misconceptions Still Drive Citizens’ Scepticism Towards Biotechnologically Produced Food

Given the invisible complexities of new food technologies, citizens oftentimes rely on the media and heuristics to form their judgments. Thus, citizens are at risk of believing in misconceptions that undermine technology acceptance and consequently hinder innovative solutions to global problems. The present study examined whether agreeing with widely spread misconceptions about biotechnologically produced food (BTF) predicts more negative attitudes among citizens. Three common misconceptions were identified: BTF is believed to be (a) unhealthy and unsafe, (b) unsustainable, and (c) unnatural - despite scientific consensus that BTF are not worse than conventional food. Descriptive statistics of a pre-registered, large-scale online-survey ( N = 2,925) conducted in November 2022 revealed that misconceptions are still widely spread. Multiple block-wise linear regression analysis showed that believing in misconceptions plays a dominant role in citizens’ attitudes about such innovative technologies and therefore contribute to public skepticism. Science communicators should develop diligent communication strategies to address these misconceptions, as reducing them would enable more people to participate in a well-prepared fashion in discourses about how BTF can be integrated in future governance frameworks that foster sustainable, socially fair food supply and consumption.

Fostering connection: Principles and practices for well-designed public engagement in physics

Public engagement stands at the core of fostering meaningful connections between physicists and the public, amidst growing public skepticism toward science and scientists. Increasing representation requires a transformative approach to public engagement, emphasizing a collaborative and bidirectional interaction that transcends conventional outreach models. In this paper, we articulate and promote the principles of effective public engagement for physicists. We highlight the successful collaboration between the American Physical Society (APS) Public Engagement and the APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) members in developing plasma kits for PhysicsQuest. By sharing insights, examples, and lessons learned, we aim to inspire a cultural shift within the physics community, fostering more inclusive and impactful engagement with diverse audiences.

Changing Attitudes, Changing Coalitions: The Politics of Immigration Before and After Brexit

AbstractThe British political landscape on immigration before Brexit had a number of stable features: the public disliked migration and politicians from both main parties tended to accept (if not actively support) higher migration levels than voters preferred. This mismatch generated electoral disruption when the issue rose up the agenda—in particular through mobilisation on the radical and far right—and this initially intense public scepticism was gradually being eroded by demographic change. Brexit has fundamentally changed this landscape, triggering major shifts in both public opinion and electoral competition over immigration. In this article, the past politics of immigration in Britain are reviewed, with an explanation of how and why Brexit prompted change. The implications of the new politics of immigration for the upcoming general election and beyond are also considered.

Being politically connected: corporate charitable giving before and after the 2016 Charity Law

Purpose Charitable giving in China has moved from being subjected to government attention and public skepticism to receiving government encouragement and public support. The role played by political connections in philanthropy is indisputable, although very few studies have explored their association from the perspective of the country’s first Charity Law of 2016. This study aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about the 2016 Charity Law and offers an understanding of the future trends in corporate charitable giving. Design/methodology/approach Using empirical analysis of data collected from listed companies in China, this study analyzes the impact of political connections on corporate charitable giving before and after the 2016 Charity Law. The study adopts three leading theories from previous research into corporate charitable giving and political connections: corporate social responsibility, resource dependence theory and stakeholder theory. A conceptual framework is outlined, and hypotheses are formulated accordingly. Findings The results show that political connections have a substantial positive impact on corporate charitable giving, both before and after the implementation of the 2016 Charity Law, which has significantly promoted and increased the amount and proportion of charitable giving. Although the 2016 Charity Law attempted to weaken the political connections of enterprises, the influence of political connections on corporate charitable giving has proved difficult to diminish or eliminate, as charity is dominated by the state. Originality/value This study explores the association between political connections and corporate charitable giving from the perspective of China’s Charity Law of 2016.

EHealth Literacy and Web-Based Health Information-Seeking Behaviors on COVID-19 in Japan: Internet-Based Mixed Methods Study.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, much misinformation and disinformation emerged and spread rapidly via the internet, posing a severe public health challenge. While the need for eHealth literacy (eHL) has been emphasized, few studies have compared the difficulties involved in seeking and using COVID-19 information between adult internet users with low or high eHL. This study examines the association between eHL and web-based health information-seeking behaviors among adult Japanese internet users. Moreover, this study qualitatively shed light on the difficulties encountered in seeking and using this information and examined its relationship with eHL. This cross-sectional internet-based survey (October 2021) collected data from 6000 adult internet users who were equally divided into sample groups by gender, age, and income. We used the Japanese version of the eHL Scale (eHEALS). We also used a Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI) adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic to assess eHL after we translated it to Japanese. Web-based health information-seeking behaviors were assessed by using a 10-item list of web sources and evaluating 10 topics participants searched for regarding COVID-19. Sociodemographic and other factors (eg, health-related behavior) were selected as covariates. Furthermore, we qualitatively explored the difficulties in information seeking and using. The descriptive contents of the responses regarding difficulties in seeking and using COVID-19 information were analyzed using an inductive qualitative content analysis approach. Participants with high eHEALS and DHLI scores on information searching, adding self-generated information, evaluating reliability, determining relevance, and operational skills were more likely to use all web sources of information about COVID-19 than those with low scores. However, there were negative associations between navigation skills and privacy protection scores when using several information sources, such as YouTube (Google LLC), to search for COVID-19 information. While half of the participants reported no difficulty seeking and using COVID-19 information, participants who reported any difficulties, including information discernment, incomprehensible information, information overload, and disinformation, had lower DHLI score. Participants expressed significant concerns regarding "information quality and credibility," "abundance and shortage of relevant information," "public trust and skepticism," and "credibility of COVID-19-related information." Additionally, they disclosed more specific concerns, including "privacy and security concerns," "information retrieval challenges," "anxieties and panic," and "movement restriction." Although Japanese internet users with higher eHEALS and total DHLI scores were more actively using various web sources for COVID-19 information, those with high navigation skills and privacy protection used web-based information about COVID-19 cautiously compared with those with lower proficiency. The study also highlighted an increased need for information discernment when using social networking sites in the "Health 2.0" era. The identified categories and themes from the qualitative content analysis, such as "information quality and credibility," suggest a framework for addressing the myriad challenges anticipated in future infodemics.

Algorithmic gender bias: investigating perceptions of discrimination in automated decision-making

ABSTRACT With the widespread use of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making (ADM), concerns are increasing about automated decisions biased against certain social groups, such as women and racial minorities. The public's skepticism and the danger of algorithmic discrimination are widely acknowledged, yet the role of key factors constituting the context of discriminatory situations is underexplored. This study examined people’s perceptions of gender bias in ADM, focusing on three factors influencing the responses to discriminatory automated decisions: the target of discrimination (subject vs. other), the gender identity of the subject, and situational contexts that engender biases. Based on a randomised experiment (N = 602), we found stronger negative reactions to automated decisions that discriminate against the gender group of the subject than those discriminating against other gender groups, evidenced by lower perceived fairness and trust in ADM, and greater negative emotion and tendency to question the outcome. The negative reactions were more pronounced among participants in underserved gender groups than men. Also, participants were more sensitive to biases in economic and occupational contexts than in other situations. These findings suggest that perceptions of algorithmic biases should be understood in relation to the public's lived experience of inequality and injustice in society.