Discrimination and Climate Change: How Prejudice predicts Scientific Scepticism

Zang, Nicola (2023) Discrimination and Climate Change: How Prejudice predicts Scientific Scepticism. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

The rise in scientific scepticism and distrust in scientific findings in recent years has raised concerns about the detrimental impacts on individuals and society as a whole, especially in the context of critical issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and anthropogenic climate change. Past research has shown that there are multiple factors predicting scientific scepticism including forms of prejudice such as sexism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia. This study aims to explores the relationship between prejudice and scientific scepticism, whilst looking at general prejudice as well as specific prejudice factors. A nationally representative survey was conducted (N=1500) in which participants had to answer different items measuring prejudice and scientific scepticism. Findings indicate higher levels of general prejudice are associated with higher levels of scientific scepticism, even after controlling for sociodemographics. These results support the notion that prejudice is generally related to scientific scepticism and help shed further light on the complexity of scientific scepticism. Keywords: scientific scepticism, general prejudice, sexism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor)
Supervisor name:	Azevedo Neto, F.A. de
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	None [Bachelor Psychology]
Date Deposited:	20 Jul 2023 08:53
Last Modified:	20 Jul 2023 08:53
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2493

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