Psychological Distance to Science: Psychometric Evaluation of the Swedish PSYDISC-Scale and as a Predictor of Science Skepticism.

Abstract

The main purpose of the present study was to test if PSYDISC demonstrates incremental validity in predicting science skepticism across domains, beyond science attitude measures, in a Swedish context. Swedish-speaking participants (N = 314) completed an online survey containing the PSYDISC scale and two science attitude scales (Faith in Science and Negative Perceptions of Science), as well as measures of science skepticism regarding climate change, vaccines, and genetically modified organisms (GMO). Results from confirmatory factor analysis found support for the previously found four-factor model (hypothetical distance, social distance, spatial distance, and temporal distance). Additionally, measurement invariance was supported for age and gender, and local psychometric properties indicated good internal consistency with good discriminant validity but somewhat poor convergent validity. Regression analyses showed that PSYDISC demonstrated incremental predictive validity for climate change and vaccine skepticism but not for GMO skepticism. The present study thus supports PSYDISC as an incremental predictor of science skepticism.