The Trust Fallacy
By Nicole M Krause, Dietram A. Scheufele, Isabelle Freiling, Dominique Brossard
Scientists' search for public pathologies is unhealthy, unhelpful, and ultimately unscientific.
This Article From Issue
July-August 2021
Volume 109, Number 4
Page 226
In late 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 to talk about the recently approved COVID-19 vaccines and his concerns that the American public might reject vaccines because of a lack of trust: “[A]bout half of the people in this country, Anderson, say they don’t trust the vaccine . . . that they fear that Trump politicized the approval process,” he explained. “No one is going to put a needle in their arm if they don’t trust the vaccine.”
QUICK TAKE
- Misconceptions about society’s lack of trust in science can misallocate resources, misdirect policies, and politicize science. We refer to these misconceptions as trust fallacies.
- Scientific progress often involves challenging old ideas to get closer to the truth. An optimal democratic society requires a mix of trust in and skepticism of science.
- Public trust in science can be undermined by communications that aren’t tailored to audiences’ value systems, fail to acknowledge uncertainties, or promise simple solutions.
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