Cause and effect: On the antecedents and consequences of conspiracy theory beliefs

Uscinski, Joseph E.; Enders, Adam M.; Klofstad, Casey A.; Stoler, Justin

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101364

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Social media does not turn people into conspiracy theorists. Individual predispositions, such as conspiracy mentality, mediate the relationship between social media use and belief in conspiracy theories (Uscinski et al, 2022b). These mediating variables, which explain for instance why some people but not others visit untrustworthy websites, should be investigated further.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Does this mean that vaccine hesitancy is caused by conspiracy theories? No, it could be that both vaccine hesitancy and belief in conspiracy theories are caused by other factors, such as low trust in institutions (Mercier & Altay, 2022; Uscinski et al, 2022b). A few ingenious studies allowed some causal inferences to be drawn.…”

Section: Misconceptions About the Impact And Reception Of Misinformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Misinformation on Misinformation: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges

Altay

Berriche

Acerbi

2023

Social Media + Society

173

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Alarmist narratives about online misinformation continue to gain traction despite evidence that its prevalence and impact are overstated. Drawing on research examining the use of big data in social science and reception studies, we identify six misconceptions about misinformation and highlight the conceptual and methodological challenges they raise. The first set of misconceptions concerns the prevalence and circulation of misinformation. First, scientists focus on social media because it is methodologically convenient, but misinformation is not just a social media problem. Second, the internet is not rife with misinformation or news, but with memes and entertaining content. Third, falsehoods do not spread faster than the truth; how we define (mis)information influences our results and their practical implications. The second set of misconceptions concerns the impact and the reception of misinformation. Fourth, people do not believe everything they see on the internet: the sheer volume of engagement should not be conflated with belief. Fifth, people are more likely to be uninformed than misinformed; surveys overestimate misperceptions and say little about the causal influence of misinformation. Sixth, the influence of misinformation on people’s behavior is overblown as misinformation often “preaches to the choir.” To appropriately understand and fight misinformation, future research needs to address these challenges.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Misconceptions About the Impact And Reception Of Misinformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Misinformation on Misinformation: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges

Altay

Berriche

Acerbi

2023

Social Media + Society

173

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Considering these bodies of past work, we propose an alternative theoretical model of vaccine hesitancy and refusal in Panel B of Fig 1 in which pre-existing social, political, and psychological motivations are key to understanding vaccine hesitancy and refusal. This model, while containing many of the same elements as Panel A, better incorporates past theories and empirical findings regarding the causes of beliefs about CTM and vaccines [ 59 ]. In this model, both beliefs in COVID-19 CTM and vaccine hesitancy are promoted by social, political, and psychological motivations; those motivations in Panel B largely replace the assumed foundational role of exposure to COVID-19 CTM vis-à-vis exposure in Panel A.…”

Section: The Connection Between Covid-19 Ctm and Vaccine Hesitancy An...mentioning

confidence: 99%

On the relationship between conspiracy theory beliefs, misinformation, and vaccine hesitancy

Enders

Uscinski²,

Klofstad³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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At the time of writing, nearly one hundred published studies demonstrate that beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and misinformation are negatively associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors. These correlational findings are often interpreted as evidence that beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation are exogenous factors that shape human behavior, such as forgoing vaccination. This interpretation has motivated researchers to develop methods for “prebunking,” “debunking,” or otherwise limiting the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation online. However, the robust literatures on conspiracy theory beliefs, health behaviors, and media effects lead us to question whether beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation should be treated as exogenous to vaccine hesitancy and refusal. Employing U.S. survey data (n = 2,065) from July 2021, we show that beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and misinformation are not only related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and refusal, but also strongly associated with the same psychological, social, and political motivations theorized to drive COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and refusal. These findings suggest that beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation might not always be an exogenous cause, but rather a manifestation of the same factors that lead to vaccine hesitancy and refusal. We conclude by encouraging researchers to carefully consider modeling choices and imploring practitioners to refocus on the worldviews, personality traits, and political orientations that underlie both health-related behaviors and beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation.

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“…Individual changes in beliefs are likely to be small given the time‐consuming and time‐limited nature of the task. We also need to consider the role of exposure to either the conspiracy theories presented or strong pre‐existing beliefs regarding the COVID‐19 pandemic (which may vary according to country; Schlipphak et al, 2021), and, the potential for social desirability bias inherent to CT beliefs (see details in Uscinski et al, 2022). Second, it is important to acknowledge the potential for demand characteristics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of a scientific reasoning intervention for conspiracy theory beliefs

Georgiou

Delfabbro

Balzan

2023

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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Conspiracy theory (CT) beliefs have become an important policy‐relevant research area since the events of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Increasing interest has been directed towards strategies that might reduce people's susceptibility to conspiratorial beliefs. In this study, we examined whether encouraging a stronger orientation towards critical scientific appraisal of conspiratorial accounts could reduce CT acceptance. After completing baseline measures of COVID‐19 related beliefs and analytical and scientific reasoning abilities, a total of 700 adults were randomly allocated to a control or scientific reasoning manipulation. People assigned to the scientific reasoning condition were found to display significantly lower CT belief endorsement post‐intervention as compared to the control group. As well as having implications for the design of future intervention studies, the results of this study encourage a greater focus on specific reasoning skills that may be amenable to a psychoeducation approach, in order to further develop methods to prevent CT beliefs.

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Cause and effect: On the antecedents and consequences of conspiracy theory beliefs

Cited by 27 publications

References 45 publications

Misinformation on Misinformation: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges

Misinformation on Misinformation: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges

On the relationship between conspiracy theory beliefs, misinformation, and vaccine hesitancy

The effectiveness of a scientific reasoning intervention for conspiracy theory beliefs

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