Like a scientist: Similarity promotes positive perceptions and fosters trust in scientists

Negative perceptions of scientists represent a pressing societal challenge thwarting public acceptance of evidence-based solutions to global crises and emergencies. Integrating work on intergroup similarity and psychological distance to science, we experimentally test whether highlighting similarities between scientists and perceivers promotes favourable perceptions and trust in scientists across three experiments (N = 1189). We predicted that matching (similarity) versus mismatching (dissimilarity) scientists’ socio-demographic profiles to those of participants would lead to more positive judgements and increased trust in scientists. We found support for these predictions when participants compared multiple scientist profiles (Studies 1 & 3), but not when evaluating a single scientist profile (Study 2). Overall, the current findings suggest that highlighting similarities between scientists and the public represents a novel and beneficial way for promoting favourable perceptions of experts.