The four cultures: Public engagement with science only, art only, neither, or both museums.
This study uses an art-and-science comparative lens to understand the science culture, particularly the public engagement with science museums. A representational Taiwanese sample of 1863 subjects was categorized into "four cultures," who visit science only, art only, neither, or both museums, resulting in six multivariate logistic regression models. Knowledge of science, interests in scientific and social issues, and socio-demographic variables were considered in the models. Adults with children and males prefer science museums, females prefer art museums, and the young and urban intellects show no strong preference, appearing to be open to both science and art museums. The findings show the complex decisions the public make in visiting museums. It is no longer a strictly science or art decision, as framed by Snow's "The Two Cultures" argument; rather, the possibility of visiting both museums has emerged, a phenomenon we describe as cognitive polyphasia.
National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan.
Paichi Pat
PP
Shein
National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan yuhyl1210@gmail.com.
Yuh-Yuh
YY
Li
National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan.
Tai-Chu
TC
Huang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001154:Art; D003256:Community Participation; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009144:Museums; D012586:Science; D013624:Taiwan
art and science; public understanding of science; science museums