Can scientists communicate interpersonal warmth? Testing warmth messages in the context of science communication

Abstract

Warmth and competence are two fundamental dimensions of social judgments that shape stereotypes of social groups/professions. In perceiving others, people assess their intentions (warmth) and their abilities to act upon those intentions (competence). As stereotyping can influence attitudes and subsequent behaviors, pre-existing stereotypes of scientists as ‘cold’ may undermine trust in science and interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. How, then, can scientists portray interpersonal warmth? Drawing on the stereotype content model’s warmth-competence literature, this study aimed to communicate scientists’ interpersonal warmth using the morality and emotional aspects of the warmth dimension in the context of a College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) as a test case of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) colleges. We used two, 3 (message type: control, prosocial, emotional-prosocial) × 2 (gender: women, men) between-subjects experimental design (n = 849) to examine the effect of message type and participant’s gender on perceptions of scientists’ interpersonal warmth. Results suggest that the combination of prosocial behaviors and emotional appeals were associated with perceived warmth of scientists. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between message type and gender (Experiment 1) and a significant main effect of gender on perceived warmth (Experiment 2). These findings suggest further exploration of the morality and sociability aspects associated with warmth to reduce unflattering stereotypes of scientists.