PERITIA: Exploring Trust in Policy Expertise for Public Impact

Policy, Expertise and Trust in Action (PERITIA)
Horizon 2020 multidisciplinary research project exploring the
conditions under which people trust expertise used for shaping
public policy
T :Coordinator and Project :Leader Prof Maria Baghramian, UCD
School of Philosophy and UCD Centre for Ethics in Public Life
11 international partners bring together philosophers, social and
natural scientists, policy experts, ethicists, psychologists, media
specialists and civil society organisations
The project received funding of 3 million euro from the European
Commission
 
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Webpage: 
https://peritia-trust.eu
Phase 3
: 
Practical recommendations and outreach 
Citizens’ Fora. Aim: A better understanding of role of trust
 
in experts:
London, Dublin, Berlin, Warsaw, Yerevan (completed)
Essay Competition “Youth on Trust” (https://peritia-trust.eu/youth-
on-trust-essay-collection/)
Behavioural Tools for Building Trust : Trustworthiness Toolkit
Policy Recommendations and Dialogue with Policy Makers  (Brussells
May 4 and 5,  2023. do please come). 
Connections with  the  Problem
 of Disinformation
Trust is experts i epistemic trust (contrasted with interpersonal trust)
Key Element: Trust in testimony:  Trust in what others tell you and you
are not in a position to verify directly.
Testimonial trust and our trust or distrust of experts are directly
connected with the spread of fake information.
Objective: to accept trustworthy testimonies and sources and to
distrust the untrustworthy.
Fake news is untrustworthy, but how do you decide what is fake?
How do you avoid the post-truth syndrome, where belief is influenced
by affective impact and personal connections than by evidence?
PERITIA Trustworthiness Toolkit
Ensuring reliance on trustworthy media,  and avoiding untrustworthy media, is one of the goals of PERITIA.
But often family and friends are the  trusted source of disinformation and misinformation. 
So. a broader
approach than media literacy is needed.
Two possible approaches for addressing the crisis of misinformation and unwarranted  trust and distrust.
1.
Interventionist.   vs
2.
 Preventative approaches
(1)
is needed at times of crisis, e.g. Covid, when there is need for immediate intervention (TV advertisement,
Government targeted announcements, etc.
Evidence that longer term, preventative methods are more effective in combating the spread of unwarranted
trust and mistrust (e.g. , use of critical thinking training to immunize against conspiracy theories).
The PERITIA Trustworthiness toolkit is a step towards (2) but can also be used as an interventionist method.
Background to the Toolkit
The project poses and answers seven questions. Four of these provide
the material for the toolkit
Q.3 What is the role and impact of digital media and new
communication technologies on judgements of the trustworthiness of
experts
Q4. What are the key indicators of the trustworthiness of the experts?
(
WP5
, WPs 8, 9, 10)
Q5. What are the psychological (affective, cognitive) mechanisms
involved in trust in experts? (
WP6
, WP8 and WP10)
Q6. What are the essential ethical considerations relevant to trust in
experts? (
WP7
, WP 9 and 10)
Theoretical  Justification. Dimensions and
Markers
The multivalence of Trust and Trustworthiness
.
Dimensions of trustworthiness: we 
proposes six dimensions
Each dimension has 
a numbers of markers of trustworthiness.
D1.
    
The Expertise Dimension (
Is the source an expert?)
Marker 1: Training
Marker 2: Experience
Marker 
3
: Credentials
Marker 4: Knowledge of relevant policy issues 
and how they relatd to the
the scientific field
 
 
Negative marker
: Epistemic trespassing. A recognized expert in one area  who
gives recommendations on issues unrelated to their field. 
 
The Ethical Dimension (does the expert act
with integrity and absence of malice)
 
Marker 1: Conflict of interest and transparency about it
Marker 2: Track record of integrity 
Marker 3: Awareness of social consequences
Marker 4: Transparency about moral and religious and political values
Marker 5: Benevolence or willingness to act in the interest of the
recipients of their advice.
Marker 6: Taking responsibility for their testimony
 
 
Negative Marker: 
Dishonesty: Plagiarism, faking experiments, cherry-
picking data and statistics, and systematic misrepresentation of others’ work
are symptoms of a person’s dishonesty.
3. The Reputational Dimension. 
 
 Reputation is fully socially constructed
, so different from the
first two dimensions. 
Marker 1: Authority
Marker 2: Status
Marker 3: Influence
Negative marker: 
The type of  social footprint they leave. For instance
, 
 who
does or does not follow them on twitter or engage with them positively or negatively
. 
4. Credible content (
i
s the message credible?)
 Marker 1.  Coherence (Avoiding contradictions, appropriate
logical connections.)
Marker 2. Scientific consensus in the field
Negative marker: Inflammatory rhetoric, glossing over inconsistencies
. 
. Trustworthy sources
Marker 1 Diversity of backgrounds and opinions
Marker 2 Tone of the content
Marker 3 
Clear distinction 
 between facts and opinion (reporting
vs. editorialising)
Marker 4  
Willingness to acknowledge
 their  mistakes.
Negative Marker
: Click bait, unattributed sources., echo chambers. 
6. Self-reflection on Trustworthiness
Marker 1
: Personal and political biases and 
attempts at 
overcoming
them.
Marker 2: 
Truth vs material and emotional interests
.
Marker 3: 
Epistemic vulnerabilities. (Am  I in a good position to
reason about this particular area of expertise?)  
 
 
Negative marker: 
Cognitive biases such as confirmation bias,
desirability bias, and motivated reasoning, 
Dunning-Kruger
 
effect
 
The toolkit: public  interface
The six dimensions of trustworthiness are translated into questions in
an accessible language.
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Step 2. Test yourself
One of more news item or example  relevant to each Question
Is x trustworthy?
Test yourself  (pass or fail)
Watch a video of 20 seconds
Go to further questions  and tips about trustworthiness relevant to
the that question  (dimension) based on the markers enumerated
earlier.
Click on resources relevant to the above.
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 Click on yes or no and see if you were right
Well done (too bad) , you have chosen the right (wrong) answer
Explanation:
Thomas Erikson was 
discovered a fraud
 and his book one of the
biggest pseudoscience scandals in recent history. Not only was the
science behind his book unreliable, but investigations in his
background revealed his 
complete lack of experience in the field.
Followed by a 20
second video
When you have to assess whether a piece
of information is true or false,
[Scene 1 - A person is shown in the middle
of the screen, with a computer, and two
boxes over them: True and False buttons.
A cursor is moving behind them, from one
button to another.]
 you can think like a lawyer or like a
detective.
[Scene 2- two screens are introduced from
the left and right side. One contains the
person dressed as a lawyer, the other as a
detective.]
New page: Further questions and tips
Here are some points that you should consider when you want to decide who is a
genuine expert in a particular field.
An expert should have good training in their field of expertise. This should be visible in
their CV or other publicly available information. 
Does the expert have proof of their
qualifications, like education and professional achievements?
 Be careful about experts
with high reputation in one area making recommendations on issues clearly
unconnected to their field.
Recognition from peers is a key aspect when determining expertise, for instance
references to them or their impact made by others working in the same field.
 Is there
evidence that they engage with other experts?
Experts who give advice on policy issues should show awareness and sensitivity about
the policy implications of their advice. 
Is the expert willing to engage with the public
 on
these issues?
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further hyperlinks and texts relevant to the
above
Simple guidelines
https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/08/04/which-experts-
should-we-trust/
Articles in suitable for the general public
https://theconversation.com/why-we-trust-experts-even-when-they-
admit-they-dont-know-the-answer-172562
Videos and podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz3rImFSrbA
Manuals
Academic articles
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/02691728.2022.2106459
?needAccess=true&role=button
A second example: Is this expert trustworthy?
Participants click on yes or no button
Yes/No answer
Explanation
Wakefield had a 
conflict of interest
 in the 
litigation and testing businesses
 that was not revealed until long
after his study was published, and then retracted, by the medical journal The Lancet.
Vidoe
Next page
Here are some questions and tips that you should consider when you want to decide if an expert is
ethically trustworthy.
Experts who give advice on policy issues should show awareness and sensitivity about its implications. Do
they 
consider what is in the public interest
 when giving expert advice? Do they show sensitivity towards
those who are in a position of social and economic disadvantage?
Personal political, social and religious views can influence an expert’s advice or opinion, are they 
open about
their possible conflicts of interests?
Look out for signs of dishonesty: plagiarism, faking experiments, cherry-picking data and statistics, and
systematic misrepresentation of others’ work are symptoms of a person’s dishonesty. 
Is there past evidence
of fraud?
Future plans
The prototype toolkit, with c. 10 entries, will be tested
We would like to develop it fully across the various markers and add
new dimensions, if necessary, and update the entries regularly
To link the toolkit to a critical thinking course based on what  is being
delivered by a colleague in UCD and is one of the most successful
undergraduate modules in the university.
Acknowledgement
This work has received funding from the
European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme under grant agreement
No 870883
.
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PERITIA is a Horizon 2020 project led by Prof. Maria Baghramian, focusing on understanding how trust in expertise shapes public policy. The project involves international partners and aims to provide practical recommendations for building trust, combating disinformation, and promoting critical thinking. Through initiatives like Citizens Fora and a Trustworthiness Toolkit, PERITIA addresses the challenge of distinguishing trustworthy information from fake news in a post-truth era.


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  1. Policy, Expertise and Trust in Action (PERITIA) Horizon 2020 multidisciplinary research project exploring the conditions under which people trust expertise used for shaping public policy T :Coordinator and Project :Leader Prof Maria Baghramian, UCD School of Philosophy and UCD Centre for Ethics in Public Life 11 international partners bring together philosophers, social and natural scientists, policy experts, ethicists, psychologists, media specialists and civil society organisations The project received funding of 3 million euro from the European Commission

  2. Currently in Phase 3 Currently in Phase 3 Webpage: https://peritia-trust.eu Phase 3: Practical recommendations and outreach Citizens Fora. Aim: A better understanding of role of trust in experts: London, Dublin, Berlin, Warsaw, Yerevan (completed) Essay Competition Youth on Trust (https://peritia-trust.eu/youth- on-trust-essay-collection/) Behavioural Tools for Building Trust : Trustworthiness Toolkit Policy Recommendations and Dialogue with Policy Makers (Brussells May 4 and 5, 2023. do please come).

  3. Connections with the Problem of Disinformation Trust is experts i epistemic trust (contrasted with interpersonal trust) Key Element: Trust in testimony: Trust in what others tell you and you are not in a position to verify directly. Testimonial trust and our trust or distrust of experts are directly connected with the spread of fake information. Objective: to accept trustworthy testimonies and sources and to distrust the untrustworthy. Fake news is untrustworthy, but how do you decide what is fake? How do you avoid the post-truth syndrome, where belief is influenced by affective impact and personal connections than by evidence?

  4. PERITIA Trustworthiness Toolkit Ensuring reliance on trustworthy media, and avoiding untrustworthy media, is one of the goals of PERITIA. But often family and friends are the trusted source of disinformation and misinformation. So. a broader approach than media literacy is needed. Two possible approaches for addressing the crisis of misinformation and unwarranted trust and distrust. 1. Interventionist. vs 2. Preventative approaches (1) is needed at times of crisis, e.g. Covid, when there is need for immediate intervention (TV advertisement, Government targeted announcements, etc. Evidence that longer term, preventative methods are more effective in combating the spread of unwarranted trust and mistrust (e.g. , use of critical thinking training to immunize against conspiracy theories). The PERITIA Trustworthiness toolkit is a step towards (2) but can also be used as an interventionist method.

  5. Background to the Toolkit The project poses and answers seven questions. Four of these provide the material for the toolkit Q.3 What is the role and impact of digital media and new communication technologies on judgements of the trustworthiness of experts Q4. What are the key indicators of the trustworthiness of the experts? (WP5, WPs 8, 9, 10) Q5. What are the psychological (affective, cognitive) mechanisms involved in trust in experts? (WP6, WP8 and WP10) Q6. What are the essential ethical considerations relevant to trust in experts? (WP7, WP 9 and 10)

  6. Theoretical Justification. Dimensions and Markers The multivalence of Trust and Trustworthiness. Dimensions of trustworthiness: we proposes six dimensions Each dimension has a numbers of markers of trustworthiness. D1.The Expertise Dimension (Is the source an expert?) Marker 1: Training Marker 2: Experience Marker 3: Credentials Marker 4: Knowledge of relevant policy issues and how they relatd to the the scientific field Negative marker: Epistemic trespassing. A recognized expert in one area who gives recommendations on issues unrelated to their field.

  7. The Ethical Dimension (does the expert act with integrity and absence of malice) Marker 1: Conflict of interest and transparency about it Marker 2: Track record of integrity Marker 3: Awareness of social consequences Marker 4: Transparency about moral and religious and political values Marker 5: Benevolence or willingness to act in the interest of the recipients of their advice. Marker 6: Taking responsibility for their testimony Negative Marker: Dishonesty: Plagiarism, faking experiments, cherry- picking data and statistics, and systematic misrepresentation of others work are symptoms of a person s dishonesty.

  8. 3. The Reputational Dimension. Reputation is fully socially constructed, so different from the first two dimensions. Marker 1: Authority Marker 2: Status Marker 3: Influence Negative marker: The type of social footprint they leave. For instance, who does or does not follow them on twitter or engage with them positively or negatively.

  9. 4. Credible content (is the message credible?) Marker 1. Coherence (Avoiding contradictions, appropriate logical connections.) Marker 2. Scientific consensus in the field Negative marker: Inflammatory rhetoric, glossing over inconsistencies.

  10. . Trustworthy sources Marker 1 Diversity of backgrounds and opinions Marker 2 Tone of the content Marker 3 Clear distinction between facts and opinion (reporting vs. editorialising) Marker 4 Willingness to acknowledge their mistakes. Negative Marker: Click bait, unattributed sources., echo chambers.

  11. 6. Self-reflection on Trustworthiness Marker 1: Personal and political biases and attempts at overcoming them. Marker 2: Truth vs material and emotional interests. Marker 3: Epistemic vulnerabilities. (Am I in a good position to reason about this particular area of expertise?) Negative marker: Cognitive biases such as confirmation bias, desirability bias, and motivated reasoning, Dunning-Krugereffect

  12. The toolkit: public interface The six dimensions of trustworthiness are translated into questions in an accessible language. Question 1. How are you going to decide who is an expert in a particular field? Question 2.Does the expert behave ethically? Question 3. How do you judge the reputation of an expert? Question 4: Is the expert a credible source of information? Question 5. Are you using reliable sources of information in your decision about who trust? Question 6. How do you become a better judge of trustworthiness?

  13. Step 2. Test yourself One of more news item or example relevant to each Question Is x trustworthy? Test yourself (pass or fail) Watch a video of 20 seconds Go to further questions and tips about trustworthiness relevant to the that question (dimension) based on the markers enumerated earlier. Click on resources relevant to the above.

  14. Test 1: Is Thomas Eriskson a trustworthy expert? Thomas Erikson 4 color theory

  15. Click on yes or no and see if you were right Well done (too bad) , you have chosen the right (wrong) answer Explanation: Thomas Erikson was discovered a fraud and his book one of the biggest pseudoscience scandals in recent history. Not only was the science behind his book unreliable, but investigations in his background revealed his complete lack of experience in the field.

  16. Followed by a 20 second video When you have to assess whether a piece of information is true or false, [Scene 1 - A person is shown in the middle of the screen, with a computer, and two boxes over them: True and False buttons. A cursor is moving behind them, from one button to another.] you can think like a lawyer or like a detective. [Scene 2- two screens are introduced from the left and right side. One contains the person dressed as a lawyer, the other as a detective.]

  17. New page: Further questions and tips Here are some points that you should consider when you want to decide who is a genuine expert in a particular field. An expert should have good training in their field of expertise. This should be visible in their CV or other publicly available information. Does the expert have proof of their qualifications, like education and professional achievements? Be careful about experts with high reputation in one area making recommendations on issues clearly unconnected to their field. Recognition from peers is a key aspect when determining expertise, for instance references to them or their impact made by others working in the same field. Is there evidence that they engage with other experts? Experts who give advice on policy issues should show awareness and sensitivity about the policy implications of their advice. Is the expert willing to engage with the public on these issues? Some of the technical terms are defined in a glossary and pop out in the interface.

  18. further hyperlinks and texts relevant to the above Simple guidelines https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/08/04/which-experts- should-we-trust/ Articles in suitable for the general public https://theconversation.com/why-we-trust-experts-even-when-they- admit-they-dont-know-the-answer-172562 Videos and podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz3rImFSrbA Manuals Academic articles https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/02691728.2022.2106459 ?needAccess=true&role=button

  19. A second example: Is this expert trustworthy?

  20. Participants click on yes or no button Yes/No answer Explanation Wakefield had a conflict of interest in the litigation and testing businesses that was not revealed until long after his study was published, and then retracted, by the medical journal The Lancet. Vidoe Next page Here are some questions and tips that you should consider when you want to decide if an expert is ethically trustworthy. Experts who give advice on policy issues should show awareness and sensitivity about its implications. Do they consider what is in the public interest when giving expert advice? Do they show sensitivity towards those who are in a position of social and economic disadvantage? Personal political, social and religious views can influence an expert s advice or opinion, are they open about their possible conflicts of interests? Look out for signs of dishonesty: plagiarism, faking experiments, cherry-picking data and statistics, and systematic misrepresentation of others work are symptoms of a person s dishonesty. Is there past evidence of fraud?

  21. Future plans The prototype toolkit, with c. 10 entries, will be tested We would like to develop it fully across the various markers and add new dimensions, if necessary, and update the entries regularly To link the toolkit to a critical thinking course based on what is being delivered by a colleague in UCD and is one of the most successful undergraduate modules in the university.

  22. Acknowledgement This work has received funding from the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870883.

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