Science denial and medical misinformation in pandemic times: A psycho-criminological analysis

Abstract

This study integrates criminological social learning and psychological explanations of individual factors and mechanisms for science denial to offer an individual-level analysis of ‘alternative lifestyle’ subcultural groups in cyberspace in order to understand the assimilation, success and proliferation of potentially dangerous health-related misinformation. Through a rigorous passive online ethnography of two relevant self-identifying ‘alternative lifestyle’ Italian- and English-speaking online communities observed over the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed the unfolding of online narratives and behavioural intentions of criminological and psychological interest. We identified in our data both individual factors and mechanisms for science denial and clues to social learning, and we showed how they interrelate. Furthermore, by looking at the linguistic and visual resources used to shape how participants think through social learning mechanisms, we identified four main narrative frames: informative; oppositional; empathetic; and agency and spirituality. The findings of this study provide a more comprehensive understanding of the reasons for and mechanisms behind medical misinformation online and suggest ways to mitigate the related harms.

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“…As my observations remained passive, I did not ask for informed consent forms from the group members as I felt that it would have been practically infeasible for 955 posts as well as disconcerting and too intrusive. Similar considerations have been followed in current research standards (Lavorgna & Myles 2021).…”

“…Internet has become an excellent fieldwork location for contemporary folklore to detect stories and narratives shared in various communities (Kõiva & Vesik 2009). The intensity of online health-related communication has led many ethnographers to observe the 'alternative lifestyle' online communities to analyse, for example, online narratives and behavioural intentions in health-related misinformation (Lavorgna & Myles 2021). Ethnographies of social media have become a developing field (Wilson 2019).…”

Negative Perception of the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Dropping: Evidence From Twitter Posts

“…At present, it is unclear how much of the negative perception in Twitter comes from people who deny COVID and its deadly consequences. Strong on social media, the movement called science denial comprises people spreading misinformation and fake news (for further details as to how misinformation flows through Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube, see Cheng et al, 2021;Lavorgna and Myles, 2021;Yang et al, 2021). Misinformation and fake news can lead people to engage in activities that increase their risk of getting or spreading COVID, like refusing to wear masks in public indoor spaces (e.g., Escandón et al, 2021).…”

“…Other studies confirm that being intensively exposed to news and social media negatively affects the mental health of an individual (Brunborg and Burdzovic Andreas, 2019 ; Brailovskaia et al, 2021 ; Geirdal et al, 2021 ). Also, diversity of thought can disappear and studies report that social media users engage in similarly thinking groups, framing, and reinforcing a shared narrative, a psychological phenomenon called echo chambers (Cinelli et al, 2021 ; Lavorgna and Myles, 2021 ; Mosleh et al, 2021 ). Despite the psychological risks (Primack et al, 2017 ; Allahverdi, 2021 ), people have become used not only to spending long hours on social media but also to expressing sentiment and opinions therein (De Choudhury et al, 2016 ; Guntuku et al, 2017 ).…”

Denial attitude and behavior as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study

“…Their study highlighted the demographic factors associated with a high denial attitude, including a low level of education, specific age categories (primarily elderly), being married, and occupation in the non-medical sector. Lavorga and Myles (2021) studied how individual and social factors related to science denial mechanism, which was analyzed using social learning theory. Furthermore, Miller (2020) found science denial and maintaining false beliefs were produced by low-level literacy on science.…”