The efficacy of interventions in reducing belief in conspiracy theories: A systematic review

O'Mahony, Cian; Brassil, M.; Murphy, Gillian; Linehan, Conor

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280902

Cited by 28 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(81 reference statements)

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“…Future studies would do well to assess a number of other participant variables like their endorsement of conspiracy theories, the participation in local and national politics as well as their personal behaviors associated with energy use and conservation. There has been a great deal of work on how to best address and combat conspiracy theories in general ( Lewandowsky et al, 2022 ; O’Mahony et al, 2023 ). By addressing these elements, the research community can play a pivotal role in aiding society’s transition toward a more informed and proactive stance on climate change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlates of climate change skepticism

Leka,

Furnham

2024

Front. Psychol.

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While much research has examined the correlates of climate change beliefs from an alarmist perspective, less work has systematically measured climate change skepticism. This study aims to create a comprehensive tool capturing climate skeptics’ beliefs and test its association with individual difference variables. 502 European adults completed a 22-item questionnaire on climate change (CC) skepticism as well as measures of ambiguity tolerance, belief in a just world (BJW), dark-side personality traits, and self-esteem. Principal components analysis revealed a four dimension structure of CC. Political ideology was the most consistent and significant predictor across the climate change skepticism factors. Dark-side traits, also played a role. Future research should further validate this measure and explore how climate change information could be tailored to different audiences. Understanding the nuances and causes of climate skepticism can enable more effective communication to promote sustainability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlates of climate change skepticism

Leka,

Furnham

2024

Front. Psychol.

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“…Finally, research has indicated that experimentally promoting analytical thinking and deliberation has been associated with fewer conspiracy beliefs (Bago et al, 2022;Swami et al, 2014) When we look at what works in terms of reducing belief in unviable conspiracy theories, it is also evident that critical thinking is an effective target for researchers. Indeed, in a recent systematic review, explicitly teaching critical thinking skills was found to be one of the most effective interventions (O'Mahony et al, 2023). Participants who enrolled in a pseudoscience class presented on a number of topics from UFOs, paranormal phenomena, and conspiracy theories and made arguments for and against their existence (Dyer & Hall, 2019).…”

Section: Proposing a New Approach To Measuring Conspiratorial Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Critical Thinking about Conspiracies (CTAC) Test: Development and Validation

O'Mahony,

Linehan,

Murphy

2024

Preprint

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How should we measure people’s vulnerability to unreasonable conspiracy theories? This is a key question for those designing interventions that aim to limit the spread of inaccurate beliefs. We argue that existing approaches are either too specific (measuring belief in a known conspiracy theory) or too general (measuring broad beliefs about the world). We developed the Critical Thinking about Conspiracies assessment (CTAC), where participants critically assess fictional conspiracies. In Study 1 (n =3341) we conducted several iterative pilot studies to develop the items. In Study 2 (n = 151) we conducted an exploratory factor analysis, reporting a two-factor solution, where the ability to correctly appraise implausible and plausible conspiracy theories are distinct but interrelated components. In Study 3 (n =106) we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to assess the goodness of fit and demonstrated convergent validity. The CTAC has 8 items, can be easily administered online and takes approximately 5 minutes to complete.

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“…Disinformation is a pervasive feature of the modern world 1 that is linked to negative social consequences that include public-health risks [2][3][4] , political radicalization 5,6 , violence [6][7][8] and adherence to conspiracy theories 8,9 . Consequently, there is a growing interest in comprehending how false information propagates across social networks [10][11][12] , including design of strategies to curb its impact [13][14][15][16] albeit with limited success 17 . However, there is also a lacuna in our knowledge regarding how individuals learn and update their beliefs based on exposure to potential disinformation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disinformation elicits learning biases

Vidal-Perez,

Dolan,

Moran

2024

Preprint

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Disinformation is often considered to pose a threat to open societies. However, we know little regarding the learning biases elicited by disinformation. To address this, we developed a novel reinforcement learning task wherein participants chose between lotteries without knowing the true outcomes of their choices (rewards or non-rewards). Instead, they received choice-feedback from sources who occasionally disseminated disinformation by lying about choice outcomes. As these sources varied in their truthfulness this allowed us to test how learning differed based on source-credibility. Across two experiments computational modelling indicated that learning increased in tandem with source-credibility, consistent with normative Bayesian principles. However, we also observed striking biases reflecting divergence from normative learning patterns. Notably, individuals learned from sources known to be unreliable and increased their learning from trustworthy information when it was preceded by non-credible information. Furthermore, the presence of disinformation exacerbated a “positivity bias” whereby individuals self-servingly boosted their learning from positive, compared to negative, choice-feedback. Our findings reveal cognitive mechanisms underlying learning biases in the face of disinformation, with potential implications for strategies aimed at mitigating its pernicious effects.

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The efficacy of interventions in reducing belief in conspiracy theories: A systematic review

Cited by 28 publications

References 56 publications

Correlates of climate change skepticism

Correlates of climate change skepticism

The Critical Thinking about Conspiracies (CTAC) Test: Development and Validation

Disinformation elicits learning biases

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