Public acceptance of evolution in the United States, 1985–2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 096366252110359
Author(s):  
Jon D. Miller ◽  
Eugenie C. Scott ◽  
Mark S. Ackerman ◽  
Belén Laspra ◽  
Glenn Branch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Religious Fundamentalism ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
College Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Acceptance Of Evolution

The public acceptance of evolution in the United States is a long-standing problem. Using data from a series of national surveys collected over the last 35 years, we find that the level of public acceptance of evolution has increased in the last decade after at least two decades in which the public was nearly evenly divided on the issue. A structural equation model indicates that increasing enrollment in baccalaureate-level programs, exposure to college-level science courses, a declining level of religious fundamentalism, and a rising level of civic scientific literacy are responsible for the increased level of public acceptance.

scholarly journals Organic Cotton Clothing Purchase Behavior: A Comparative Study of Consumers in the United States and Bangladesh

Textiles ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 376-386
Author(s):  
Md Nakib Ul Hasan ◽  
Chuanlan Liu ◽  
Bulbul Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Reasoned Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Purchase Behavior ◽  
Organic Cotton ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Purchase Behaviors

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the differences and similarities of organic cotton clothing (OCC) purchase behaviors of the consumers who lie at the top and the bottom of the apparel supply chain. The influences of consumers’ sustainability knowledge and social norms on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions were examined to understand within the framework of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Sample data were collected from the United States and Bangladesh and, finally, 136 useable responses were used for the data analysis. Among the useable responses, 85 samples were from the US (containing 91.76% female participants and 4.71% male participants) and 51 responses were from the Bangladesh sample (containing 7.84% female participants and 88.24% male participants). A structural equation model was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings showed that for US consumers, sustainability knowledge was a powerful predictor of positive attitudes towards OCC, while for Bangladeshi consumers, it was not. In the context of social norms, Bangladeshi consumers demonstrated a strong positive attitudes formation whereas American consumers were found to display less strong relationships. OCC marketers and retailers should concentrate on educating consumers about the real benefits of organic cotton consumption by disseminating proper information about organic cotton fiber and its processing.

Horizontal, Vertical, and Hybrid: An Empirical Look at the Forms of Accountability

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 1410-1438
Author(s):  
Christopher G. Reddick ◽  
Tansu Demir ◽  
Bruce Perlman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Structural Equation Model ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
City Managers ◽  
City Governments ◽  
Important Relationship ◽  
Survey Sample

The existing accountability research in public administration either provides conceptual analyses and definitions of forms of accountability or case studies on accountability. They focus on the structure of responsibility or responding behavior. This article is different in that it tests actors’ perceptions of the three commonly cited forms of accountability identified in the literature—vertical, horizontal, and hybrid. We test accountability on a national survey sample of city managers across the United States. Our structural equation model indicates that there is both vertical and horizontal accountability present in city governments in the United States supporting a hybrid model. The results of this study add to the literature because most of the existing research on accountability does not test this important relationship nor examine actors’ perceptions.

The Importance of Institution-Based Trust in Mobile Adoption with Online Shopping Applications

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L. Amoroso
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Behavioral Intention ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Online Shopping ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Online Vendor

This paper develops a research model that examines online purchasing by consumers. A research model was built to focus on the role of trust and its impact on inertia, loyalty, satisfaction of online consumers. 1,896 consumers in the United States were surveyed using an instrument and structural equation model that yielded respectable reliability and validity. It was discovered that certain sub-constructs of trust play an important role in influencing consumers' behavioral intention toward online shopping. Both institution-based trust and structural assurances-based trust positively influence inertia and satisfaction. The data showed that greater levels of institution-based trust leads to greater levels of online shopping satisfaction using mobile devices. However, a person's perception of structural assurances-based trust does not significantly influence his/her loyalty toward shopping with an online vendor. This paper adds to the understanding of online purchasing. Future researchers can refine the model and instrument to further explain consumers' acceptance of mobile online shopping applications.

The measurement of civic scientific literacy

1998 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon D. Miller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Attitudes Toward Science ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Comprehensive Description ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Surveys

Building on two decades of national surveys in the United States and two Eurobarometer studies, the history, rationale, and structure of a measure of civic scientific literacy are described. Estimates of the proportion of adults who are very well informed or moderately well informed on the index of civic scientific literacy appear in the literature more frequently, and this paper provides the first comprehensive description and analysis of the civic scientific literacy measure. It is hoped that this analysis and discussion will encourage the inclusion and replication of the measure in a wider range of studies of the public understanding of and attitudes toward science and technology.

Cross-Cultural Attitudes Toward Abortion

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 402-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Bahr ◽  
Anastasios C. Marcos
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Abortion Attitudes ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Separate Dimension ◽  
Better Than

Using data from 1,494 Greeks and 1,993 Americans, this study finds that social abortion attitudes are a separate dimension from physical abortion attitudes. According to our structural equation model, abortion attitudes are influenced significantly by religiosity and sexual liberalism. The model explains social abortion attitudes significantly better than physical abortion attitudes. Although the model is applicable to both countries, there are three major differences between Greece and the United States. First, in Greece religiosity has a smaller impact on sexual liberalism, and sexual liberalism has a much weaker impact on both types of abortion attitudes, particularly social abortion attitudes. Second, in Greece religiosity is more strongly related to abortion attitudes than in the United States, particularly to social abortion attitudes. Third, education has a weaker influence in Greece than in the United States.

Public Knowledge, Scientific Literacy, Numeracy, and Perceptions of Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Gilden ◽  
Ellen Peters
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Knowledge ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Change Beliefs

It is a widely accepted scientific fact that our climate is changing and that this change is caused by human activity. Despite the scientific consensus, many individuals in the United States fail to grasp the extent of the consensus and continue to deny both the existence and cause of climate change; the proportion of the population holding these beliefs has been stable in recent history. Most of the American public also believe they know a lot about climate change although knowledge tests do not always reflect their positive perceptions. There are two frequent hypotheses about public knowledge and climate change beliefs: (a) providing the public with more climate science information, thus making them more knowledgeable, will bring the beliefs of the public closer to those of climate scientists and (b) individuals with greater cognitive ability (e.g., scientific literacy or numeracy) will have climate change beliefs more like those of experts. However, data do not always support this proposed link between knowledge, ability, and beliefs. A better predictor of beliefs in the United States is political identity. For example, compared to liberals, conservatives consistently perceive less risk from climate change and, perhaps as a result, are less likely to hold scientifically accurate climate change beliefs, regardless of their cognitive abilities. And greater knowledge and ability, rather than being related to more accurate climate change beliefs, tend to relate to increased polarization across political identities, such that the difference in beliefs between conservatives and liberals with high cognitive ability is greater than the difference in beliefs between conservatives and liberals with low cognitive ability.

Intergroup tolerance leads to subjective morality, which in turn is associated with (but does not lead to) reduced religiosity

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-243
Author(s):  
Onurcan Yilmaz ◽  
Hasan G Bahçekapili ◽  
Mehmet Harma ◽  
Barış Sevi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Structural Equation Model ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Bootstrap Analysis ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
The Relationship

Although the effect of religious belief on morally relevant behavior is well demonstrated, the reverse influence is less known. In this research, we examined the influence of morality on religious belief. In the first study, we used two samples from Turkey and the United States, and specifically tested the hypothesis that intergroup tolerance predicts a shift in meta-ethical views toward subjective morality, which in turn predicts decreased religious belief. To examine the relationship between intergroup tolerance and religiosity via subjective morality, a structural equation model (SEM) was run. SEM results yielded good fit to the data for both samples. Intergroup tolerance positively predicted subjective morality, and in turn, morality negatively predicted religiosity. The bias-corrected bootstrap analysis confirmed the mediation, indicating that the association between intergroup tolerance and religious belief was mediated via subjective morality. In Study 2, we probed for the causal relationship, and the results showed that manipulating intergroup tolerance increases subjective morality, but does not influence religiosity. Therefore, we found only partial evidence for our proposed model that tolerance causally influences subjective morality, but not religiosity.

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