UC Riverside

Trust in science has important implications for health behavior and policy support, yet most research relies on explicit measures that are vulnerable to social desirability. Based on dual-process theory, this dissertation first establishes the predictive validity of implicit and explicit measures of trust in science on science-related behavior. Building on the foundation of understanding of implicit and explicit trust in science, this dissertation also aims to understand how message framing, uncertainty, and scientific knowledge shape implicit and explicit trust in science and behavior. In Experiment 1, I measured implicit trust in science using a single-category IAT, explicit trust using self-report measures, and behavior using scientific news headline choices. In Experiment 2, I manipulated how science is framed – static (science as fixed) versus dynamic (science as evolving) – and tested if scientific knowledge moderates the effect on implicit and explicit trust. In Experiment 3, I examined the joint effect of high versus low uncertainty with the same framing and scientific knowledge from Experiment 2. I also included exploratory analyses looking at how demographic variables such as political identity, religion, and education, relate to all factors across the three experiments. Finally, I ran a mini meta-analysis looking at effects across the three experiments. The results support that implicit trust in science is a distinct process from explicit trust in science and that both can be impacted by the framing manipulation. While uncertainty did not directly impact trust in science, the results from Experiment 3 show how scientific knowledge buffers against the negative effects high uncertainty has on explicit trust in science. Implicit and explicit trust in science consistently differ across political identity and religion in important ways. Overall, this dissertation moves beyond self-report alone to provide a more complete picture of how trust in science is formed and acted upon. The results contribute to a growing field of science aiming to improve the public’s trust in science.