Audiences’ perceptions and relevance of trust cues in science content

Schröder, Justin T. ; Engel, Martina; Inken, Schröder und Guenther, Lars (2025): Audiences’ perceptions and relevance of trust cues in science content. Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference, Aberdeen, Schottland, 27.-29. Mai 2025.

Abstract

Public trust in scientists is often mediated by intermediaries, such as journalistic and social media. These media use trust cues—i.e., linguistic markers presenting reasons to trust that help public audiences in their trust assessments. These cues address established dimensions of trust in science: expertise, integrity, and benevolence. Moreover, there are two additional dimensions rooted in the concept of public engagement with science: transparency and dialogue. For instance, a trust cue highlighting the qualification of a scientist is linked to the dimension of expertise. While trust cues have been identified and compared across various media outlets in our previous content analyses, their perception by and relevance for public audiences remain unexplored. Thus, this research targets this issue by asking: How do public audiences perceive trust cues and how do they evaluate their relevance? Using mock articles featuring trust cues linked to each dimension of trust as stimuli, the study engaged four online focus groups (with 23 individuals in Germany) to explore perceptions of these trust cues. Participants discussed the trust cues’ influence on their trust in scientists and ranked the dimensions of trust by relevance—this way, we developed a heat map visualizing the results. The findings reveal that all trust cues were recognized in the stimuli and deemed important, validating the previously identified cues. Rankings indicate that public audiences consider all five dimensions relevant, with expertise and integrity ranked highest, and benevolence’s importance tied to certain conditions. Hence, this research provides implications for science communication research and practice. Practitioners can use these trust cues to foster trust in science, such as in public relations materials or on social media, while researchers gain insights into a potential shift in audience priorities from three to five dimensions of trust in science, paying tribute to the concept of public engagement with science.

• Dokumententyp: Konferenzbeitrag (Vortrag)
• Keywords: Public trust in scientists; epistemic trust; focus groups; qualitative research; trust cues
• Fakultät: Sozialwissenschaften > Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Medienforschung (IfKW)
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 380 Handel, Kommunikation, Verkehr
• Sprache: Englisch