Under Attack: How Social Threats Push Negative Beliefs about Scientists in Germany

In times of societal threat, scientists find themselves in the spotlight – both as providers of information and reassurance, and as targets of distrust, conspiracies, and accusations of immoral behaviour. These conflicting images, as well as the ongoing public discussion about the role of scientists in governance and public life, highlight the remaining open questions about people’s appraisals of scientific experts in times of crisis. In this study, we evaluate how negative emotions triggered by large-scale threats shape German residents’ views of scientists. Using experimental evidence from a representative online survey (N = 2828), we demonstrate the positive effect of exposure to a simple description of a real-life salient threat on the belief that scientists maliciously manipulate evidence to deceive the public. We further show that this effect is mediated by anger, not fear, and is robust across three different threat scenarios – the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 685), the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine (n = 695), and the spread of the Mpox virus (n = 694). Our findings highlight the importance of careful policy communication and suggest that the perception of scientific integrity is severely threatened during crisis – right when expertise and guidance may be needed the most.