Deference to Scientific Authority Among a Low Information Public: Understanding U.S. Opinion on Agricultural Biotechnology

doi:10.1093/ijpor/edl003

International Journal of Public Opinion Research Advance Access published online on March 13, 2006
International Journal of Public Opinion Research, doi:10.1093/ijpor/edl003

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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The World Association for Public Opinion Research. All rights reserved
Received July 18, 2005
Revised December 2, 2005

Article

Deference to Scientific Authority Among a Low Information Public: Understanding U.S. Opinion on Agricultural Biotechnology

Dominique Brossard ¹ ^* and Matthew C. Nisbet ²

¹ Dominique Brossard (Ph.D., Cornell University) is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication, and a member of the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
² Matthew C. Nisbet (Ph.D., Cornell University) is assistant professor in the School of Communication at American University

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Dominique Brossard, E-mail: db36{at}cornell.edu

Abstract

This study uses the contemporary debate over agricultural biotechnologyto conceptualize a theoretical model that can be used to explainhow citizens reach judgments across a range of science and technologycontroversies. We report findings from a mail survey of NewYork State residents that depicts a ‘low information’public relying heavily on heuristics such as value predispositions,trust, and schema to form an opinion about agricultural biotechnology.Science knowledge does play a modest role, with the news mediaserving as an important source of informal learning. Contraryto expectations and past research, we do not find any directeffects for news attention on support for agricultural biotechnology.Deference to scientific authority is a central value predispositionshaping support for agricultural biotechnology. Positively correlatedwith education, deference to scientific authority is the strongestinfluence on support for agricultural biotechnology in our model.Part of the variable’s influence is direct, but part ofit is also indirect, as deference to scientific authority isa key predictor of both trust in the sponsors of biotechnologyand generalized reservations about the impacts of science.

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