Conditional trust in science (and the condition is "must agree with me")

Dr. Steven Novella:

“People basically trust science right up to the point where it disagrees with their belief system.”

Just a nice, concise statement of an important basic point. Steve said that on The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe #1020 @ 39:59, in a discussion about a study of “Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries.”

I’ve seen this many times over the years with “fans” who “love” my work … right up to the point where my work (reporting the science) disagrees with their belief system. And then they don’t love my work so much anymore! 😜

(Guess who trusts their scientists the most? By a long shot? It’s … Egyptians! Followed closely by Indians.)

Based on survey responses from 69,527 people. The vertical line denotes the weighted grand mean. Graph from “Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries,” by Cologna et al. and Nat Hum Behav, CCA 4.0