Reading about science in the era of “fake news”: how the requester, the task, attitudes towards and knowledge about science influence reading decisions and outcomes

科学成果很容易通过大众媒体和互联网获得。然而，最近的事态发展，如“另类事实”和“假新闻”，是一个例子，表明至少有一定比例的公众认为现有媒体不值得信任和/或在做出重要的个人或政治决策时不重视科学方法和科学结果。在本项目中，通过对大学生的测试，从阅读研究的角度对这一主题进行了探讨。关于同一主题的科学结果通常可以在多个文件中获得。大学生不仅在个人语境中遇到这些问题，也在学术语境中遇到这些问题。阅读多份文件除了其他任务外，还需要比较陈述，对来源的可信度做出判断，并对内容及其来源进行适当的表述。基于最近提出的RESOLV模式，本研究提出了一个问题，即学生阅读的语境是否会影响他们的阅读决定和结果。在学术背景下，学生可以假设请求者(例如教授)希望他们在阅读多个文档时整合并关注不同的视角。相比之下，在个人环境中往往没有这样明确的期望(例如，请求者是朋友或亲戚)。因此，本研究假设学生对科学的态度在做出阅读决定时起作用：在态度积极的情况下，学生很可能会选择一种与他们在学术背景下使用的方法类似的方法。在态度消极的情况下，他们很可能会选择不同的方法，比如更多地关注个人经验，而不是科学专业知识。由于在不同的背景下，往往不仅请求者不同，而且任务也不同，因此在本项目中，将研究请求者的影响、任务、对科学的态度以及关于科学方法的知识。由于对科学态度的评估，特别是在大学生的情况下，可能会由于社会期望或自欺欺人而引发有偏见的自我报告措施，因此不仅将使用显性措施，也将使用隐性措施。研究一集中于对科学的外显态度和内隐态度与科学方法知识之间的关系。在研究2中，将研究任务、请求者以及作为调节者的对科学的态度和关于科学方法的知识的语境效应。期望这一结果有助于理解当前的现象，也有助于理论的进步。

Scientific results are easily available through mass media and the internet. Recent developments like "alternative Facts" and "fake News", however, are an example of the fact that at least a certain percentage of the public considers the established media to be untrustworthy and/or do not value the scientific approach and scientific results when reaching important personal or political decisions. In the present project, this topic is addressed from a reading research perspective through the examination of university students. Scientific results on the same topic are often available across multiple documents. University students encounter these not only in the personal context, but also in the academic context. Reading multiple documents necessitates, amongst other tasks, the comparison of statements, making judgements regarding the trustworthiness of sources, and creating an adequate representation of content and its sources. Based on the recently proposed RESOLV model, the present project poses the question of whether the context in which the students read influences their reading decisions and outcome. In an academic context, the students can assume that the requester (e.g., the professor) expects them to integrate and attend to the different perspectives when reading multiple documents. In contrast, there are often no such clear expectations in the personal context (e.g. the requester is a friend or relative). Therefore, it is assumed in the present project that attitudes towards science play a role when making reading decisions: In the case of positive attitudes, it is probable that students would choose an approach similar to one they would use in an academic context. In the case of negative attitudes, they would most probably choose a different approach, such as focusing more on personal experience than on scientific expertise. Since in different contexts it is often not only the requester who varies, but also the task, in the present project the influence of the requester, the task, attitudes towards science, and knowledge about the scientific approach will be researched. Since the assessment of attitudes towards science, especially in the case of university students, might evoke biased self-report measures due to social desirability or self-deception, not only explicit but also implicit measures will be used. Study 1 focuses on the relationships of explicit and implicit attitudes towards science and knowledge about the scientific approach. In Study 2, the context effects by task, requester, and as moderators attitudes towards science and knowledge about the scientific approach will be researched. It is expected that the results will contribute to both the understanding of current phenomena as well as to theory advancement.