Table 5. Study 2.
Direct/Indirect effects from SEM for participants who read the Nanotechnology scenario (N = 172).
| Process/Comp | Interest/Values | Complex/Unc | Cred of Science | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct effects | ||||
| Fluid intelligence (number series) | 0.08 (-0.07, 0.22) |
-0.05 (-0.20, 0.10) |
0.08 (-0.07, 0.23) |
|
| Science reasoning (SRS) | 0.06 (-0.10, 0.21) |
0.20 (0.05, 0.35) |
0.10 (-0.06, 0.26) |
— |
| Science factual knowledge | 0.05 (-0.13, 0.23) |
0.09 (-0.09, 0.26) |
0.18 (0.00, 0.36) |
— |
| Belief in positivism |
0.15 (0.01, 0.29) |
-0.04 (-0.19, 0.11) |
0.03 (-0.12, 0.19) |
— |
| Credibility of science |
-0.31 (-0.47, -0.16) |
-0.21 (-0.37, -0.05) |
-0.28 (-0.44, -0.11) |
— |
| Political ideology | 0.10 (-0.06, 0.24) |
-0.12 (-0.27, 0.03) |
0.05 (-0.11, 0.21) |
0.42 (0.31, 0.54) |
| Conspiracist ideation | 0.10 (-0.06, 0.26) |
0.23 (0.07, 0.39) |
0.13 (-0.04, 0.30) |
-0.36 (-0.48, -0.24) |
| Age | 0.13 (-0.01, 0.27) |
-0.01 (-0.15, 0.13) |
0.07 (-0.07, 0.22) |
— |
| Care about topic |
0.15 (0.01, 0.30) |
0.09 (-0.06, 0.24) |
0.08 (-0.07, 0.24) |
— |
| Know about topic |
-0.43 (-0.58, -0.27) |
-0.17 (-0.34, -0.01) |
-0.23 (-0.40, -0.06) |
— |
| Heard of disputes |
0.22 (0.08, 0.36) |
0.26 (0.12, 0.41) |
0.16 (0.01, 0.31) |
— |
| Indirect effects | Estimate | |||
| Conspir -> Cred -> Competence |
0.11 (0.04, 0.18) |
|||
| Ideo -> Cred -> Competence |
-0.13 (-0.21, -0.06) |
|||
| Conspir -> Cred -> Ints/Vals |
0.08 (0.01, 0.14) |
|||
| Ideo -> Cred -> Ints/Vals |
-0.09 (-0.16, -0.02) |
|||
| Conspir -> Cred -> Complexity |
0.10 (0.03, 0.17) |
|||
| Ideo -> Cred -> Complexity |
-0.12 (-0.19, -0.04) |
|||
| Variance Explained (R2) | 29% | 25% | 19% | 31% |
Note: Cell entries are standardized regression coefficients (95% CIs). Estimates with 95% CIs that do not include 0 are bolded. These estimates are traditionally significant at p < .05.