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Measuring Laypeople’s Trust in Experts in a Digital Age: The Muenster Epistemic Trustworthiness Inventory (METI)

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  • Friederike Hendriks
  • Dorothe Kienhues
  • Rainer Bromme

Abstract

Given their lack of background knowledge, laypeople require expert help when dealing with scientific information. To decide whose help is dependable, laypeople must judge an expert’s epistemic trustworthiness in terms of competence, adherence to scientific standards, and good intentions. Online, this may be difficult due to the often limited and sometimes unreliable source information available. To measure laypeople’s evaluations of experts (encountered online), we constructed an inventory to assess epistemic trustworthiness on the dimensions expertise, integrity, and benevolence. Exploratory (n = 237) and confirmatory factor analyses (n = 345) showed that the Muenster Epistemic Trustworthiness Inventory (METI) is composed of these three factors. A subsequent experimental study (n = 137) showed that all three dimensions of the METI are sensitive to variation in source characteristics. We propose using this inventory to measure assignments of epistemic trustworthiness, that is, all judgments laypeople make when deciding whether to place epistemic trust in–and defer to–an expert in order to solve a scientific informational problem that is beyond their understanding.

Suggested Citation

  • Friederike Hendriks & Dorothe Kienhues & Rainer Bromme, 2015. "Measuring Laypeople’s Trust in Experts in a Digital Age: The Muenster Epistemic Trustworthiness Inventory (METI)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0139309
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139309
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lukas Gierth & Rainer Bromme, 2020. "Beware of vested interests: Epistemic vigilance improves reasoning about scientific evidence (for some people)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Petropoulos, Fotios & Apiletti, Daniele & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios & Babai, Mohamed Zied & Barrow, Devon K. & Ben Taieb, Souhaib & Bergmeir, Christoph & Bessa, Ricardo J. & Bijak, Jakub & Boylan, Joh, 2022. "Forecasting: theory and practice," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 705-871.
      • Fotios Petropoulos & Daniele Apiletti & Vassilios Assimakopoulos & Mohamed Zied Babai & Devon K. Barrow & Souhaib Ben Taieb & Christoph Bergmeir & Ricardo J. Bessa & Jakub Bijak & John E. Boylan & Jet, 2020. "Forecasting: theory and practice," Papers 2012.03854, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    3. Friederike Hendriks & Regina Jucks, 2020. "Does Scientific Uncertainty in News Articles Affect Readers’ Trust and Decision-Making?," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 401-412.
    4. Hershkovitz, Arnon & Hayat, Zack, 2020. "The role of tie strength in assessing credibility of scientific content on facebook," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Dominic Balog‐Way & Katherine McComas & John Besley, 2020. "The Evolving Field of Risk Communication," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(S1), pages 2240-2262, November.
    6. Dominik Sondern & Guido Hertel, 2019. "Does Paying Back Pay Off? Effects of Reciprocity and Economic Outcomes on Trust Emergence in Negotiations," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 28(6), pages 1053-1076, December.
    7. Justin Sulik & Ophelia Deroy & Guillaume Dezecache & Martha Newson & Yi Zhao & Marwa El Zein & Bahar Tunçgenç, 2021. "Facing the pandemic with trust in science," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Niklas Simon, 2020. "Investigating Ethos and Pathos in Scientific Truth Claims in Public Discourse," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 129-140.
    9. Anne Reif & Tim Kneisel & Markus Schäfer & Monika Taddicken, 2020. "Why Are Scientific Experts Perceived as Trustworthy? Emotional Assessment within TV and YouTube Videos," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 191-205.

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