Distrust in Science

Alpha
Aug 28, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Oct 1, 2024

Since the times of ancient civilizations such as Greece, Egypt, Babylon and India, humanity has seeked to try to better understand the world around it, through observation and theorization. As time passed, our method for formatting hypotheses and testing them, has become more and more refined. And in the last few centuries we have tuned it, updated it and developed it into what we currently know as “the scientific method” [1], which serves as the basis to the scientific community. However, despite the many results that such a method has presented when, either be in the advancement of knowledge or in the field of technology, many still find themselves skepticals when faced with the effectiveness of such a method and actively distrustful of the scientific community. As such, this article presents a short introduction to the scientific method, and explores some of the reasons that can lead to a distrust in science.

PHOTO CREDIT: Konstantin Kolosov from Pixabay

The Scientific Method:

As taught by schools around the world, the scientific method consists of observation, research, hypothesis, the test of said hypothesis, analysis of the results and then the refinement or elimination of the hypothesis. But it is also argued that the theory should not come from observation, that the analysis of said theories should be done to try and challenge in every way possible, discarting it if it fails and considering it temporarily verified if it passes [2]. Either way, the scientific method requires that hypotheses and theories be formulated with a base of research and tested extensively, with those same tests published for other scientists to study and test the theories themselves. Therefore, the reliability, repeatability and impartiality of scientific method is what has led to it being the main method for the scientific community to garner knowledge. That is not to say that scientists are always incapable of being wrong or that theories accepted by the scientific community are always correct. Nevertheless, it is still the best method that the scientific community has to further expand human knowledge.

Public Distrust:

An article published by the Pew Research Center in February 2022 showed that around 29% of americans adults trusted in science, compared to the 40% who claimed the same in November 2020 [3]. And this drop isn’t confined to the US. During the Pandemic, all eyes were turned to the scientific community, as it raced to try and develop a vaccine. As such, the world was exposed to the slow and oftentimes messy process through which scientists have to go through. As stated by Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath, people saw the sausage being made and they didn’t like what they saw [4]. All the same, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS for short, conducted a study which seeked to explain the reasons that have resulted in a rising anti-science sentiment [5]. And in it they found four main reasons as to why, those being: sources are perceived as untrustworthy; the information activates a person’s social identity as a member of a group which has been unrepresented by science, or exploited by scientific work and that holds anti-science attitudes; the information contradicts personal beliefs; information is delivered in ways that the person does not completely understand. As explained by Dr. Bastiaan Rutjens, “[i]t is important to appreciate that anti-science beliefs do not represent some monolithic entity but are rather diverse and […] reflect potentially very different attitude objects.”

Countermeasures:

Unfortunately there is only so much that the scientific community can do to try and regain the public’s trust. Regardless, there is still a lot of room for improvement, some of those being: improving the used language as to make it more accessible to a wider audience; presenting the various sides of an argument and engaging openly in it; improving the perceived validity of the scientist’s work; conveying warmth and prosocial goals promoted by science and conveying scientist as empathic figures, easily relatable.

Conclusion:

The last century has been marked by a staggering amount of progress in all fields of human knowledge and in the development of new technologies. From the discovery of new medical procedures and medicine, to connecting the whole world through the internet and smart devices. However, be it a result of conservative or religious beliefs, bad anecdotal experiences or strong core ideals that can’t be challenged, many still report not trusting the work of these men and women, which has guided our world into that of a world of technology. At the end of the day the problem of distrust towards the scientific community generates from a collection of factors that originate in a series of social and psychosocial factors, may those be being a part of a religious group that claim that science is evil, to having had a bad experience with a medical professional. At the end of the day, it is a very human problem that we can never truly rid ourselves of. The issue arises when more and more people find themselves in opposition to science, because it is undeniable the benefits that it has brought us when we have heeded to it.

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