Science communication gets personal: Ambivalent effects of self-disclosure in science communication on trust in science.

Altenmüller, Marlene Sophie ; Kampschulte, Lorenz; Verbeek, Laura and Gollwitzer, Mario (2023): Science communication gets personal: Ambivalent effects of self-disclosure in science communication on trust in science. In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied [Forthcoming]

Abstract

In an attempt to display themselves as warm, approachable, and trustworthy, researchers might reveal personal details about themselves (i.e., self-disclosure) when communicating their science to the public. Here, we test whether self-disclosure in science communication can actually increase public trust in science. We present six online experiments (overall N = 2,431), integrate their results in a mini meta-analysis, and report a field experiment in a science museum (N = 480): In sum, our findings suggest that self-disclosure leads to small, but measurable increases in laypeople’s feelings of closeness toward researchers and perceptions of researchers’ warmth-related trustworthiness; yet, self-disclosure also leads to decreases in competence-related trustworthiness perceptions. The credibility of scientific findings was, overall, unaffected by self-disclosing communication. Findings from the field study further question whether self-disclosure in science communication has any practical relevance.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Psychology and Education Science > Department Psychology > Social Psychology
• Subjects: 100 Philosophy and Psychology > 150 Psychology
• ISSN: 1076-898X
• Language: English