The effects of self-disclosure and gender on a climate scientist’s credibility (2024)

This project found that people liked the scientist more for a personal than political disclosure, rated them as being more competent for a political disclosure, and liked a female scientist more than a male scientist. However, scientist’s gender did not moderate the effect of disclosure type or the effect of participants’ gender. The results suggest distinct benefits when scientists deliver different types of messages on social media, although disclosure is unlikely to have substantial effects on lay judgments of scientists’ credibility.