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Trust and Confidence at the Interfaces of the Life Sciences and Society Does the Public Trust Science? A Workshop Summary (2015) / Chapter Skim
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2 What Is Trust?
Pages 5-10

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From page 5...
... Funk pointed out that although "the credibility of a messenger delivering a message" is an important component of trust, such a narrow definition does not capture "the two-way dialogue concept behind public engagement." Caulfield particularly embraced a definition developed by science blogger, Liz Neeley, which combines multiple academic definitions of trust as: "your willingness to embrace the advice of a group of strangers because you believe they (a) know the truth, (b)
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From page 6...
... James Grunig of the University of Maryland emphasized that there is not a single, homogenous "public," but many "publics." He identified three ways in which publics interact with science information:  Active publics seek information and enter into a relationship around an issue.  Passive publics have a low level of involvement, and neither are affected by nor see a connection to a particular scientific problem.
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From page 7...
... Social bonding can be seen as a "precursor to trust," she said. McDermott described research by Paul Zach that demonstrates that people with higher oxytocin concentrations are "more willing to bear risk of all kinds in their social interactions." However, she stressed that the biological mechanisms that underlie trust involve human universals – broader and more complex psychological processes of which oxytocin concentration is only one component (Box 2-2)
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From page 8...
... Marcia Kean of Feinstein Kean Healthcare offered a historical perspective on the change through the lens of health care. In the past, scientists made up a small and exclusive "golden circle" that conducted its work in prestigious academic institutions, she noted.
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From page 9...
... The historical reliance on funding from federal agencies and charitable organizations is now enhanced by other strategies, and the professional class of scientists that has been leading the charge in science for the last few decades has little experience with the new tactics. Crowd funding and other innovative models of investment offer the public opportunities to be more active in deciding what science is funded and how it is conducted.
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Key Terms

  • trust fabric
  • human universals
  • future interactions
  • public relations
  • academic definitions

  • passive role
  • oxytocin concentration
  • professional class
  • public engagement
  • public relationship

  • building public
  • public supported
  • public learned
  • public opportunities
  • science institution

  • public intersects
  • public perceptions
  • underlie trust
  • defined trust
  • trust involve

  • authoritative trust
  • regulate science
  • supported science
  • science pose
  • allow participants

  • science blogger
  • intense media
  • rose mcdermott
  • investment offer
  • brown university


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