The Einstein effect provides global evidence for scientific source credibility effects and the influence of religiosity

Suzanne Hoogeveen; Julia M. Haaf; Joseph A. Bulbulia; Robert M. Ross; Ryan McKay; Sacha Altay; Theiss Bendixen; Renatas Berniūnas; Arik Cheshin; Claudio Gentili; Raluca Georgescu; Will M. Gervais; Kristin Hagel; Christopher Kavanagh; Neil Levy; Alejandra Neely; Lin Qiu; André Rabelo; Jonathan E. Ramsay; Bastiaan T. Rutjens; Hugh Turpin; Filip Uzarevic; Robin Wuyts; Dimitris Xygalatas; Michiel van Elk

doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01273-8

The Einstein effect provides global evidence for scientific source credibility effects and the influence of religiosity

Suzanne Hoogeveen, Julia M. Haaf, Joseph A. Bulbulia, Robert M. Ross, Ryan McKay, Sacha Altay, Theiss Bendixen, Renatas Berniūnas, Arik Cheshin, Claudio Gentili, Raluca Georgescu, Will M. Gervais, Kristin Hagel, Christopher Kavanagh, Neil Levy, Alejandra Neely, Lin Qiu, André Rabelo, Jonathan E. Ramsay, Bastiaan T. RutjensHugh Turpin, Filip Uzarevic, Robin Wuyts, Dimitris Xygalatas, Michiel van Elk

Department of Human Services

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

People tend to evaluate information from reliable sources more favourably, but it is unclear exactly how perceivers’ worldviews interact with this source credibility effect. In a large and diverse cross-cultural sample (N = 10,195 from 24 countries), we presented participants with obscure, meaningless statements attributed to either a spiritual guru or a scientist. We found a robust global source credibility effect for scientific authorities, which we dub ‘the Einstein effect’: across all 24 countries and all levels of religiosity, scientists held greater authority than spiritual gurus. In addition, individual religiosity predicted a weaker relative preference for the statement from the scientist compared with the spiritual guru, and was more strongly associated with credibility judgements for the guru than the scientist. Independent data on explicit trust ratings across 143 countries mirrored our experimental findings. These findings suggest that irrespective of one’s religious worldview, across cultures science is a powerful and universal heuristic that signals the reliability of information.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	523-535
Number of pages	13
Journal	Nature Human Behaviour
Volume	6
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01273-8
State	Published - Apr 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by funds from the Templeton Foundation (grant number 60663) to M.v.E., the Cogito Foundation (grant number R10917) to R.Mc.K., the Australian Research Council (grant number DP180102384) to N.L. and R.M.R., Templeton Religion Trust (reference TRT0196) to J.A.B., and the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (reference 17-EURE-0017 FrontCog and 10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL) to S.A. The analysis was carried out on the Dutch national e-infrastructure with the support of SURF Cooperative.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by funds from the Templeton Foundation (grant number 60663) to M.v.E., the Cogito Foundation (grant number R10917) to R.Mc.K., the Australian Research Council (grant number DP180102384) to N.L. and R.M.R., Templeton Religion Trust (reference TRT0196) to J.A.B., and the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (reference 17-EURE-0017 FrontCog and 10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL) to S.A. The analysis was carried out on the Dutch national e-infrastructure with the support of SURF Cooperative.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Behavioral Neuroscience

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Hoogeveen, S., Haaf, J. M., Bulbulia, J. A., Ross, R. M., McKay, R., Altay, S., Bendixen, T., Berniūnas, R., Cheshin, A., Gentili, C., Georgescu, R., Gervais, W. M., Hagel, K., Kavanagh, C., Levy, N., Neely, A., Qiu, L., Rabelo, A., Ramsay, J. E., ... van Elk, M. (2022). The Einstein effect provides global evidence for scientific source credibility effects and the influence of religiosity. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(4), 523-535. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01273-8

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title = "The Einstein effect provides global evidence for scientific source credibility effects and the influence of religiosity",

abstract = "People tend to evaluate information from reliable sources more favourably, but it is unclear exactly how perceivers{\textquoteright} worldviews interact with this source credibility effect. In a large and diverse cross-cultural sample (N = 10,195 from 24 countries), we presented participants with obscure, meaningless statements attributed to either a spiritual guru or a scientist. We found a robust global source credibility effect for scientific authorities, which we dub {\textquoteleft}the Einstein effect{\textquoteright}: across all 24 countries and all levels of religiosity, scientists held greater authority than spiritual gurus. In addition, individual religiosity predicted a weaker relative preference for the statement from the scientist compared with the spiritual guru, and was more strongly associated with credibility judgements for the guru than the scientist. Independent data on explicit trust ratings across 143 countries mirrored our experimental findings. These findings suggest that irrespective of one{\textquoteright}s religious worldview, across cultures science is a powerful and universal heuristic that signals the reliability of information.",

author = "Suzanne Hoogeveen and Haaf, {Julia M.} and Bulbulia, {Joseph A.} and Ross, {Robert M.} and Ryan McKay and Sacha Altay and Theiss Bendixen and Renatas Berniūnas and Arik Cheshin and Claudio Gentili and Raluca Georgescu and Gervais, {Will M.} and Kristin Hagel and Christopher Kavanagh and Neil Levy and Alejandra Neely and Lin Qiu and Andr{\'e} Rabelo and Ramsay, {Jonathan E.} and Rutjens, {Bastiaan T.} and Hugh Turpin and Filip Uzarevic and Robin Wuyts and Dimitris Xygalatas and {van Elk}, Michiel",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by funds from the Templeton Foundation (grant number 60663) to M.v.E., the Cogito Foundation (grant number R10917) to R.Mc.K., the Australian Research Council (grant number DP180102384) to N.L. and R.M.R., Templeton Religion Trust (reference TRT0196) to J.A.B., and the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (reference 17-EURE-0017 FrontCog and 10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL) to S.A. The analysis was carried out on the Dutch national e-infrastructure with the support of SURF Cooperative. Funding Information: This work was supported by funds from the Templeton Foundation (grant number 60663) to M.v.E., the Cogito Foundation (grant number R10917) to R.Mc.K., the Australian Research Council (grant number DP180102384) to N.L. and R.M.R., Templeton Religion Trust (reference TRT0196) to J.A.B., and the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (reference 17-EURE-0017 FrontCog and 10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL) to S.A. The analysis was carried out on the Dutch national e-infrastructure with the support of SURF Cooperative. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

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doi = "10.1038/s41562-021-01273-8",

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Hoogeveen, S, Haaf, JM, Bulbulia, JA, Ross, RM, McKay, R, Altay, S, Bendixen, T, Berniūnas, R, Cheshin, A, Gentili, C, Georgescu, R, Gervais, WM, Hagel, K, Kavanagh, C, Levy, N, Neely, A, Qiu, L, Rabelo, A, Ramsay, JE, Rutjens, BT, Turpin, H, Uzarevic, F, Wuyts, R, Xygalatas, D & van Elk, M 2022, 'The Einstein effect provides global evidence for scientific source credibility effects and the influence of religiosity', Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 523-535. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01273-8

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AU - Turpin, Hugh

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AU - Xygalatas, Dimitris

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The Einstein effect provides global evidence for scientific source credibility effects and the influence of religiosity

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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