Page 11 - Standard Indicators for the social appropriation of science

were more informed about the science behind to health services experienced less favourable
climate change and energy problems, citizens attitudes towards vaccination.
would hold views more aligned with scientific
experts. Nevertheless, that is an illusion; According to De Witt, Osseweijer & Robin,
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actually, what people know about science concerning social responses to new
only modestly and inconsistently correlates biotechnologies, they provoke perceptions
with their attitudes about climate and energy shaped by individuals’ cultural worldviews.
issues. However, partisanship is the biggest Basically, they bet on a concept of the worldview
factor in people’s beliefs, according to a 2016 that distinguishes among the traditional, the
Pew Research Center survey. modern and the postmodern. Therefore, for
information / training on new biotechnologies,
Vaccines are now a burning topic. A lot of an integrative approach must be taken on socio-
international studies identified why some technical changes, generating knowledge
people refuse to be vaccinated or doubt the about paradigmatic gaps in the social sciences
decision. In reality, they do so for various and formulating inclusive policies.
reasons, but the lack of trust in science and Concerning climate change, Lewandowsky
scientific institutions is usually a determining et al. stated that the audience’s social
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factor when deciding about vaccines, as Dubé consensus is a fundamental element for
& Gagnon explained in their work on trust in supporting or rejecting some topics. Through
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information sources. These authors explain a study on the analysis of comments from
that, in the recommendations of the World blogs, which played an important role in the
Health Organization (WHO) Working Group on dissemination of against positions on the
Vaccine, it stated that confidence was one of the role of the anthropocentric vision of climate
three main determinants of vaccine hesitation change, Lewandowsky and colleagues
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along with complacency and convenience. In discovered that beliefs are partially shaped by
fact, they found that in countries where access the perception of readers about the extent to
to health services was not a significant barrier which other readers seem to share an opinion
to vaccination, the groups’ attitudes and beliefs expressed in a blog post. Nor could they
targeted by vaccination programs were the explain the effect of this content on people’s
main factors influencing the vaccine coverage. attitudes. In particular, it is unknown how the
As Dubé & Gagnon point out in a survey interaction between blog post content and blog
that included 65,819 people in 67 countries, comments affects readers’ attitudes. However,
it showed that general attitudes towards through the experiment that Lewandowsky and
vaccination were positive, although there was his colleagues conducted, using blog posts and
considerable variability between participating comments that supported or not the scientific
countries and regions. Unlike other health consensus on climate change, they found
behaviours, participants from countries with that the perceived social consensus among
higher education levels and adequate access readers, in turn, is determined in case of blog

11. Dubé, È., & Gagnon, D. (2018). Trust, Information Sources and the Impact on Decision-Making: The Example of
Vaccination, Paganelli, Céline (Ed.) Confidence and Legitimacy in Health Information and Communication, 43-65.
Montpellier: Willey.
12.De Witt, A., Osseweijer, P., & Pierce, R. (2017). Understanding public perceptions of biotechnology through the
“Integrative Worldview Framework”. Public Understanding of Science, 26(1), 70-88.
13. a) Lewandowsky, S., Gignac, G. E., & Vaughan, S. (2013). The pivotal role of perceived scientific consensus in
acceptance of science. Nature Climate Change, 3(4), 399-404; b) Lewandowsky, S., Cook, J., Fay, N., & Gignac, G.
E. (2019). Science by social media: Attitudes towards climate change are mediated by perceived social consensus.
Memory & Cognition, 47(8), 1445-1456.

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