Foundations for Anticipating Future Reactions to an Astrobiological Discovery on Mars: A Mixed-Methods Study in Greece

Abstract

This work demonstrates a preliminary empirical investigation of key psychological foundations underpinning Greek adult nonexperts' prospections about a future announcement of an astrobiological discovery on Mars. A mixed-methods exploratory sequential design was used to study the breadth and depth of imagined individual reactions. Our results revealed the presence of common patterns, both in imaginings of a speculative extraterrestrial microorganism on Mars and in the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components that construe people's imagined attitude toward it. Our findings also lent support to the presence of an existential psychological mechanism by which an astrobiological discovery suggesting higher relative degree of extraterrestrial cognitive capability can have a larger relative impact on one's worldview, for both “believers” and “nonbelievers” in extraterrestrial life. These outcomes contribute to the advancement of a nonpredictive, anticipatory research program for proactively guiding humans' reactions to a discovery of extraterrestrial life—especially toward protecting any extant Martian lifeforms.