Peace, Love, and Conspiracy Theories: How Experiences and Worldviews Shape Age Cohorts' Views of Science

Abstract

Whether the safety of vaccines, climate change, or COVID-19, the origins of science skepticism appear the same: When misinformation prevails and individual liberties appear threatened, people will resist. Who are today's science skeptics and what motivates their beliefs? I argue that older populations are the most likely age cohort to oppose mainstream scientific consensus, based upon their collective memories of mid-century scientific events and latent changes to US public school science curricula. Evidence also suggests a relationship between motivated cognition and conspiracist thinking linked to older age groups' worldviews and preferred social media platforms. To test hypotheses, regression models analyzed data from an existing survey in which participants (N = 2,002) were asked a series of questions on scientific topics. Results suggest a relationship between age and certain views of science, particularly among oldest and youngest age cohorts. Views are also relative to experiences and perceptions developed during age cohorts' formative years. Religion, partisanship, and education level also matter for select scientific topics and findings indicate the interplay of factors responsible for certain age cohorts' views of science.