Abstract
Scholars have not examined public views of scientific motivations directly, despite scientific authority implications. A US representative sample rated 11 motivations both descriptively (they do motivate scientists’ work) and normatively (they should motivate scientists) for scientists employed by federal government agency, large business corporation, advocacy group (nonprofit seeking to influence policy), or university. Descriptive and normative ratings fell into extrinsic (money, fame, power, being liked, helping employer) and intrinsic (do good science, enjoy challenge, helping society and others) motivation factors; being independent and gaining respect were outliers. People saw intrinsic motivations as more common, but wanted intrinsic motivations to dominate extrinsic ones even more. Despite a few differences for extrinsic-motivation ratings, the lay public tended to see scientific work as similarly motivated regardless of the employer. Variance in perceived science motivations was explained by scientific beliefs (positivism, credibility) and knowledge (of facts and scientific reasoning), complemented by political ideology and religiosity.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Public Understanding of Science |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - Jan 1 2019 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- extrinsic motivations
- intrinsic motivations
- perceptions of scientists’ motivations
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Cite this
Americans’ views of scientists’ motivations for scientific work. / Johnson, Branden B.; Dieckmann, Nathan F.
In: Public Understanding of Science, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Americans’ views of scientists’ motivations for scientific work
AU - Johnson, Branden B.
AU - Dieckmann, Nathan F.
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Scholars have not examined public views of scientific motivations directly, despite scientific authority implications. A US representative sample rated 11 motivations both descriptively (they do motivate scientists’ work) and normatively (they should motivate scientists) for scientists employed by federal government agency, large business corporation, advocacy group (nonprofit seeking to influence policy), or university. Descriptive and normative ratings fell into extrinsic (money, fame, power, being liked, helping employer) and intrinsic (do good science, enjoy challenge, helping society and others) motivation factors; being independent and gaining respect were outliers. People saw intrinsic motivations as more common, but wanted intrinsic motivations to dominate extrinsic ones even more. Despite a few differences for extrinsic-motivation ratings, the lay public tended to see scientific work as similarly motivated regardless of the employer. Variance in perceived science motivations was explained by scientific beliefs (positivism, credibility) and knowledge (of facts and scientific reasoning), complemented by political ideology and religiosity.
AB - Scholars have not examined public views of scientific motivations directly, despite scientific authority implications. A US representative sample rated 11 motivations both descriptively (they do motivate scientists’ work) and normatively (they should motivate scientists) for scientists employed by federal government agency, large business corporation, advocacy group (nonprofit seeking to influence policy), or university. Descriptive and normative ratings fell into extrinsic (money, fame, power, being liked, helping employer) and intrinsic (do good science, enjoy challenge, helping society and others) motivation factors; being independent and gaining respect were outliers. People saw intrinsic motivations as more common, but wanted intrinsic motivations to dominate extrinsic ones even more. Despite a few differences for extrinsic-motivation ratings, the lay public tended to see scientific work as similarly motivated regardless of the employer. Variance in perceived science motivations was explained by scientific beliefs (positivism, credibility) and knowledge (of facts and scientific reasoning), complemented by political ideology and religiosity.
KW - extrinsic motivations
KW - intrinsic motivations
KW - perceptions of scientists’ motivations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074539115&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85074539115&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0963662519880319
DO - 10.1177/0963662519880319
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074539115
JO - Public Understanding of Science
JF - Public Understanding of Science
SN - 0963-6625
ER -