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

Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 6, pp. 523–535

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.

Authors 25

1. Suzanne Hoogeveen corresponding

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. suzanne.j.hoogeveen@gmail.com

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2. Julia M. Haaf

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

3. Joseph A. Bulbulia

   Victoria University of Wellington

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

4. Robert Malcolm Ross

   Macquarie University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

5. Ryan McKay

   University of London · Royal Holloway University of London

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK

6. Sacha Altay

   Institut Jean Nicod

   Affiliation as printed

   Département d'études cognitives, Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France

7. Theiss Bendixen

   Aarhus University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

8. Renatas Berniûnas

   Vilnius University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

9. Arik Cheshin

   University of Haifa

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Human Services, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

10. Claudio Gentili

    University of Padua

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy

11. Raluca Georgescu

    Babeș-Bolyai University

    Affiliation as printed

    International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

12. Will M. Gervais

    Brunel University of London

    Affiliation as printed

    Centre for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK

13. Kristin Hagel

    Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

    Affiliation as printed

    Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

14. Christopher Michael Kavanagh

    Rikkyo University · University of Oxford

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychology, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan

    School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

15. Neil L. Levy

    Macquarie University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

16. Alejandra Neely‐Prado

    Adolfo Ibáñez University

    Affiliation as printed

    School of Psychology, Adolfo Ibáñez University, Santiago, Chile

17. Lin Qiu

    Nanyang Technological University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

18. André Luiz Alves Rabelo

    Universidade de Brasília

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Social and Work Psychology, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil

19. Jonathan E. Ramsay

    James Cook University Singapore

    Affiliation as printed

    School of Social and Health Sciences, James Cook University, Singapore, Singapore

20. Bastiaan T. Rutjens

    University of Amsterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

21. Hugh Turpin

    University of Oxford

    Affiliation as printed

    School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

22. Filip Užarević

    UCLouvain

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

23. Robin Wuyts

    University of Amsterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

24. Dimitris Xygalatas

    University of Connecticut

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Anthropology and Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

25. Michiel van Elk Aachen Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

    Leiden University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands