The effect of seeing scientists as intellectually humble on trust in scientists and their research

Public trust in scientists is critical to our ability to face societal threats. Across five preregistered studies (N=2,034), we assessed whether perceptions of scientists’ intellectual humility affect perceived trustworthiness of scientists and their research. In Study 1, we found that seeing scientists as higher in intellectual humility was associated with greater perceived trustworthiness of scientists and support for science-based beliefs. We then demonstrated that describing a scientist as high (vs. low) in intellectual humility increased perceived trustworthiness of the scientist (Studies 2-4), belief in their research (Studies 2-4), intentions to follow their research-based recommendations (Study 3), and information-seeking behavior (Study 4). We further demonstrated that these effects were not moderated by the scientist’s gender (Study 3) or race/ethnicity (Study 4). In Study 5, we experimentally tested communication approaches scientists can use to convey intellectual humility. These studies reveal the benefits of seeing scientists as intellectually humble across medical, psychological, and climate science topics.