On Believing Conspiracy Theories We Remember: Analyses of Two Large-Scale Surveys of Conspiracism in the French General Public

Béna, Jérémy; Carreras, O; Terrier, P

doi:10.31234/osf.io/tf76n

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Oliver and Wood (2014) observed that, in 3 out of 5 conspiracy theories, political knowledge negatively correlates with beliefs. Béna and colleagues (2019) observed that, understandably, people believe more conspiracy theories they have more heard about (the same result may be found in the data of Marques et al, 2021, in which awareness of conspiracy theories correlates with beliefs in conspiracy theories). Whereas these studies investigate close factors (proper political knowledge, understanding of conspiracy theories), none have investigated the specific effect of real (vs. invented) scandals on conspiracy theory beliefs.…”

supporting

confidence: 70%

Do Real and Invented Scandals Fuel Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories?

Wagner-Egger,

de Oliveira Fernandes,

Carrel

et al. 2023

European Journal of Psychology Open

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Introduction: Conspiracy believers often claim that they believe in conspiracy theories not on irrational grounds, as scholars often argue, but because of the real scandals and real conspiracies that have occurred in history. Methods: We tested whether reminding people of real scandals in the political, economic, or scientific domain and exposition to invented scandals (i.e., that did not occur) increase beliefs in conspiracy theories. A secondary research question was whether conspiracy beliefs positively relate to differentiating between real and invented scandals. Results: Our results showed that reminding people of real scandals and exposing them to invented scandals did not affect their conspiracy beliefs. Higher conspiracy believers were slightly better than lower conspiracy believers at recognizing invented scandals but somewhat worse at recognizing real scandals. Participants from left-wing political orientation were also marginally better than those with right-wing orientation at identifying real scandals. Discussion/conclusion: Reminding people of real and invented scandals did not have a short-term effect on conspiracist beliefs. This article supports the argument that conspiracy theories are not helpful for social critique, as higher believers in conspiracy theories were not better than lower believers at recognizing actual scandals.

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supporting

confidence: 70%

Do Real and Invented Scandals Fuel Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories?

Wagner-Egger,

de Oliveira Fernandes,

Carrel

et al. 2023

European Journal of Psychology Open

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“…Sharing misinformation is likely to “contaminate” receivers since the mere exposure to (false) information increases its perceived veracity (Fazio et al., 2015; Hasher et al., 1977; Pennycook et al., 2018). Exposure to conspiracy views increases the perception that they are true (Béna et al., 2019) and may even change subsequent behaviours so it is essential to slow their spread. For example, exposure to climate change conspiracy theories reduced science acceptance and pro‐environmental behaviours (van der Linden, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are COVID‐19 conspiracies a threat to public health? Psychological characteristics and health protective behaviours of believers

Juanchich

Sirota

Jolles

et al. 2021

Euro J Social Psych

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We tested the link between COVID‐19 conspiracy theories and health protective behaviours in three studies: one at the onset of the pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK), a second just before the first national lockdown, and a third during that lockdown ( N = 302, 404 and 399). We focused on conspiracy theories that did not deny the existence of COVID‐19 and evaluated the extent to which they predicted a range of health protective behaviours, before and after controlling for psychological and sociodemographic characteristics associated with conspiracy theory belief. COVID‐19 conspiracy beliefs were positively correlated with beliefs in other unrelated conspiracies and a general conspiracy mind‐set, and negatively correlated with trust in government and a tendency towards analytical thinking (vs. intuitive thinking). Unexpectedly, COVID‐19 conspiracy believers adhered to basic health guidelines and advanced health protective measures as strictly as non‐believers. Conspiracy believers were, however, less willing to install the contact‐tracing app, get tested for and vaccinated against COVID‐19, and were more likely to share COVID‐19 misinformation – all of which might undermine public health initiatives. Study 3 showed conspiracy theory believers were less willing to undertake health protective behaviours that were outside of their personal control, perceiving these as having a negative balance of risks and benefits. We discuss models explaining conspiracy beliefs and health protective behaviours, and suggest practical recommendations for public health initiatives. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

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“…In an earlier investigation, Béna et al (2019) found initial evidence in line with the hypothesis that repetition might increase the perceived truth of conspiracy statements. Béna et al reanalyzed two large-scale surveys that used representative samples of the French population (Institut Français d'Opinion Publique;IFOP, 2017IFOP, , 2019.…”

Section: Repetition Could Increase the Perceived Truth Of Conspiracy ...mentioning

confidence: 59%

“…Through analyses of two large-scale surveys in which respondents were asked whether they had already seen widespread conspiracy statements and adhered to them (IFOP, 2017; 2019), Béna et al (2019) found that perceived prior exposure could increase conspiracism. However, even if perceived prior exposure could be associated with actual prior exposure, evidence for a causal effect of repeated exposure on conspiracy beliefs was awaiting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present high-powered preregistered experiment, we manipulated repeated exposure to conspiracy statements and uncertain factual statements (trivia statements). Based on the range of statements that the truth effect was found with and on the initial results from Béna et al (2019), we hypothesized that repeated exposure would increase truth judgments of conspiracy statements. We included trivia statements to compare the magnitude of the truth effect with conspiracy statements compared with trivia statements.…”

Section: Repetition Could Increase the Perceived Truth Of Conspiracy ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Repetition could increase the perceived truth of conspiracy theories

Béna¹,

Rihet²,

Carreras³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Conspiracy theories can be repeatedly encountered, which raises the issue of the effect of their repeated exposure on beliefs. Earlier studies found that repetition increases truth judgments of factual statements, whether they are uncertain, highly implausible, or fake news, for instance. Would this “truth effect” be observed with conspiracy statements? If so, is the effect size smaller than the typical truth effect, and is it associated with individual differences such as cognitive style and conspiracy mentality? In the present preregistered study, we addressed these three issues. We asked participants to provide binary truth judgments to conspiracy and factual statements already displayed in an exposure phase (an interest judgment task) or new (displayed only in the truth judgment task). We measured participants’ cognitive style with the 3-item Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), and conspiracy mentality with the Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ). We found that repetition increased truth judgments of conspiracy theories, unmoderated by cognitive style and conspiracy mentality. The truth effect was smaller with conspiracy theories than with uncertain factual statements. The results suggest that repetition may be a simple way to increase belief in conspiracy theories. Whether repetition increases conspiracy beliefs in natural settings and how it contributes to conspiracism compared to other factors are important questions for future research.

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On Believing Conspiracy Theories We Remember: Analyses of Two Large-Scale Surveys of Conspiracism in the French General Public

Cited by 5 publications

References 26 publications

Do Real and Invented Scandals Fuel Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories?

Do Real and Invented Scandals Fuel Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories?

Are COVID‐19 conspiracies a threat to public health? Psychological characteristics and health protective behaviours of believers

Repetition could increase the perceived truth of conspiracy theories

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