Scientific Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Science in South Korea: Does Knowledge Lead to Favorable Attitudes?

Abstract

According to the scientific literacy model, enhancing the public’s knowledge of science will dispel misperceptions, which in turn can promote more favorable attitudes toward scientists and their research. Using data from a national survey of South Koreans, our study closely examines how different types of scientific knowledge (factual vs. procedural) are associated with different predictors of attitudes (perceived level of risk, uncertainty of risk, controllability of risk, and perceived trust in scientists), which in turn mediate the link between knowledge and attitudes. Unlike the findings from other countries, we found that scientific knowledge, both factual and procedural, was overall negatively—rather than positively—associated with South Koreans’ attitudes toward science. Findings also demonstrated that knowledge could have either a positive or negative indirect effect, depending upon the types of mediators and the types of knowledge involved in producing such an effect. Implications of the findings are discussed in detail.