Person- and Situation-Specific Factors in Discounting Science via Scientific Impotence Excuses
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Rosman, Tom
Kerwer, Martin
Chasiotis, Anita
Wedderhoff, Oliver
Abstract / Description
Munro (2010) found that individuals, when confronted with belief-disconfirming scientific evidence, resist this information by concluding that the topic at hand is not amenable to scientific investigation – a scientific impotence excuse. We strived to replicate this finding and to extend this work by analyzing other factors that might lead to scientific impotence excuses. As a person-specific factor, we analyzed the role of epistemic beliefs, and as a situational factor, we focused on the contradictoriness of the evidence at hand. Three sets of hypotheses were preregistered. In an experimental 2x3 online study drawing on a general population sample of N = 901 participants, we first assessed our participants’ prior beliefs on the effects of acupuncture versus massaging (pro acupuncture vs. no opinion). One experimental group then read fictitious empirical evidence claiming superiority of acupuncture, another group read evidence speaking against acupuncture, and a third group read conflicting evidence (i.e., a mix of pro- and contra-findings). Scientific impotence excuses were measured by a newly developed questionnaire. Our first hypothesis, which suggested that participants believing in the superiority of acupuncture would make stronger scientific impotence excuses when confronted with belief-disconfirming findings, was confirmed. A second hypothesis suggested that scientific impotence excuses would be stronger when individuals were confronted with evidence exhibiting a ‘nature’ that contradicts their topic-specific epistemic beliefs. This hypothesis was partially supported. A third hypothesis suggested that individuals confronted with conflicting evidence would make stronger scientific impotence excuses, and this was again confirmed. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Keyword(s)
scientific impotence excuse prior beliefs epistemic beliefs conflicting evidence discounting science trust in sciencePersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2021-03-08
Journal title
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Publisher
PsychArchives
Publication status
acceptedVersion
Review status
reviewed
Is version of
Citation
Rosman, T., Kerwer, M., Chasiotis, A., & Wedderhoff, O. (in press). Person- and situation-specific factors in discounting science via scientific impotence excuses [Author accepted manuscript]. Europe's Journal of Psychology.
http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4690
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Rosman, Tom
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Kerwer, Martin
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Chasiotis, Anita
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Wedderhoff, Oliver
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2021-03-08T16:58:09Z
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Made available on2021-03-08T16:58:09Z
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Date of first publication2021-03-08
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Abstract / DescriptionMunro (2010) found that individuals, when confronted with belief-disconfirming scientific evidence, resist this information by concluding that the topic at hand is not amenable to scientific investigation – a scientific impotence excuse. We strived to replicate this finding and to extend this work by analyzing other factors that might lead to scientific impotence excuses. As a person-specific factor, we analyzed the role of epistemic beliefs, and as a situational factor, we focused on the contradictoriness of the evidence at hand. Three sets of hypotheses were preregistered. In an experimental 2x3 online study drawing on a general population sample of N = 901 participants, we first assessed our participants’ prior beliefs on the effects of acupuncture versus massaging (pro acupuncture vs. no opinion). One experimental group then read fictitious empirical evidence claiming superiority of acupuncture, another group read evidence speaking against acupuncture, and a third group read conflicting evidence (i.e., a mix of pro- and contra-findings). Scientific impotence excuses were measured by a newly developed questionnaire. Our first hypothesis, which suggested that participants believing in the superiority of acupuncture would make stronger scientific impotence excuses when confronted with belief-disconfirming findings, was confirmed. A second hypothesis suggested that scientific impotence excuses would be stronger when individuals were confronted with evidence exhibiting a ‘nature’ that contradicts their topic-specific epistemic beliefs. This hypothesis was partially supported. A third hypothesis suggested that individuals confronted with conflicting evidence would make stronger scientific impotence excuses, and this was again confirmed. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.en_US
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Publication statusacceptedVersionen
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Review statusrevieweden
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CitationRosman, T., Kerwer, M., Chasiotis, A., & Wedderhoff, O. (in press). Person- and situation-specific factors in discounting science via scientific impotence excuses [Author accepted manuscript]. Europe's Journal of Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4690en
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ISSN1841-0413
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/4145
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4690
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Language of contentengen_US
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PublisherPsychArchivesen_US
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.3735en
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5941
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Is related tohttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5941
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Is related tohttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/2277.2en
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Is related tohttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/2624en
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Is related tohttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/2526en
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Keyword(s)scientific impotence excuseen_US
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Keyword(s)prior beliefsen_US
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Keyword(s)epistemic beliefsen_US
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Keyword(s)conflicting evidenceen_US
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Keyword(s)discounting scienceen_US
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Keyword(s)trust in scienceen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitlePerson- and Situation-Specific Factors in Discounting Science via Scientific Impotence Excusesen_US
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DRO typearticleen_US
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Journal titleEurope's Journal of Psychologyen
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Visible tag(s)PsychOpen GOLDen_US
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Visible tag(s)Accepted Manuscripten_US