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September 13, 2010

Whether a scientist is seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy depends on a person's cultural values.

In a recent study, the only thing that made a fictional author seem more or less worthy of being identified as an "expert" was the fit between the scientific viewpoints researchers attributed to that author and the cultural predispositions of test subjects.

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Related story: Why "Scientific Consensus" Fails to Persuade