Scientific claims that are connected to ethical concerns are frequently brought forward by communicators who are not ethically neutral. This study investigated how far recipients' evaluation of such claims is guided by vigilance toward a potential ethical source bias rather than their own ethical bias. One hundred ten individuals opposed to…

The authors examined adolescents' detection of features that affect the quality of web information. In experiment 1, participants (12-16 years old) rated the goodness/usefulness of four web-like documents for a simulated study assignment. Each document came with an issue that potentially undermined its quality. Two documents had source-related…

Scientific texts are a genre in which adherence to specific discourse conventions allows for conclusions on the scientific integrity of the information and thus on its validity. This study examines whether genre-typical features of scientific discourse influence how laypeople handle conflicting science-based knowledge claims. In two experiments…

We present an empirical investigation of a classroom training fostering vocational students' consideration of source information when deciding about science-based controversies. The training was specifically aimed at raising students' awareness of the division of cognitive labor and the resulting need to take a source's competence into account…

Well-educated laypeople tend to rely on their own ability to evaluate scientific claims when they obtain information from texts with high comprehensibility. The present study investigated whether controversial content reduces this facilitating effect of high text comprehensibility on readers' self-reliance and whether the influence of…