Moral conviction: A challenge in the age of science politicization

Abstract

Social science research can help science practitioners understand why the public responds to scientific findings differentially-sometimes believing, sometimes not. Four decades of research finds that people interpret science in ways that make it easier to dismiss scientific findings or consensuses that go against specific attitudes, or positions in social and policy debates, that they wish to maintain. This may be the case especially when a person's position is a moral conviction-that is, it is not only their preferred position, but what they feel is the morally correct position. This chapter explores why moral conviction matters for understanding public response to scientific information in the age of politicization, where moral conviction comes from, and the ways in which it poses a challenge to the foundations of science.

Keywords: Moral coherence; Moral conviction; Moralized attitudes; Motivated reasoning; Public opinion; Science attitudes; Science communication.