Abstract: Existing research on scientists’ trust not only neglect to pay attention to the transformation of scientists’ trust from normal society to abnormal society, but also fail to categorize the objects of scientists’ trust clearly. Based on the existing research, this paper divides scientists’ trust into two dimensions: moral character and ability. This article using a multi-year cross-sectional survey data to analyze the changes of scientists’ trust and its influencing factors under different social conditions. This paper found that, people’s trust in the competence of scientists is higher in both social conditions; public trust in the competence and moral character of scientists has increased significantly compared to normal society. Third, however, this increase is highly heterogeneous and comes mainly from increased trust in scientists among people with scientific interest and high scientific literacy. The research findings of this paper have effectively enriched the research of scientists’ trust issues.