Sykes, Amber (2022) Does Intolerance of Uncertainty Influence People's Trust in Science? Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the relevance of effective science communication, including the inevitable uncertainty within science. It is widely assumed that trust in science would suffer from too much transparency about scientific uncertainty - yet this is not empirically evident. Building upon prior research, the current study dives into this topic by testing whether uncertainty communication and different communication sources influence people’s levels of trust in scientific information about COVID-19. Further, it will be examined if the trait intolerance of uncertainty (IU) has an impact on trust. An online study (N = 399) was conducted where participants read a text about booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, which included either uncertainty or not, and was attributed to one of three different sources (government, scientists, and scientists via. social media). Results indicated that even though participants perceived induced uncertainty, neither uncertainty communication nor differing sources influenced trust into the given information. Also, IU did not seem to have an effect. It is implied that trust is not negatively influenced by uncertainty communication, which would underline the notion establishing more openness and transparency of science. Keywords: science communication, uncertainty, intolerance of uncertainty, trust, COVID-19 pandemic
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Bles, A.M. van der and Huis, M.A. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Mar 2022 12:38 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Mar 2022 12:38 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/306 |
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