Factors contributing to science rejection across countries

In Western nations spirituality, more than religiosity, may be the 'enemy' of science acceptance. That is one of the conclusions of an investigation of science skepticism in 24 countries. The study shows how levels of science skepticism differ between countries, but predictors of science skepticism differ depending on the issue. The findings are now published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Systematic and unwarranted rejection of science-that is, science skepticism - is a major societal problem that can have severely damaging effects on individuals and societies. To illustrate, two of the World Health Organization's top 10 health threats for 2019 are firmly rooted in science skepticism: climate change and vaccine hesitancy . Vaccine hesitancy already led to various measles outbreaks in 2017 and 2018, and might also obstruct the probability of success of future public vaccination campaigns against COVID-19. But is skepticism about climate change and vaccination shaped by the same causes? Although evidence has started to accumulate for the "heterogeneity of science skepticism", we still have a lack of insight into how it varies in degree and in kind around the world. Such insight is important when the aim is to understand and reduce the rejection of science. An international team of researchers, led by UvA psychologist Bastiaan Rutjens, investigated science skepticism in 24 countries and offer a systematic cross-national investigation of the relative impact of various potential predictors of science skepticism. Heterogeneity of science skepticism