Conspiracy theories, such as vaccine conspiracy theories, can be politically problematic and even dangerous when politicians and other actors exploit belief in unverified information. Karen Douglas, PhD, discusses psychological research on how conspiracy theories start, why they persist, who is most likely to believe them, and whether there is any way to counteract them. Conspiracy theories have been a constant hum in the background for at least the past 100 years, with some being relatively harmless, such as the argument that Nasa faked the Moon landing or that Beatle Sir Paul McCartney died long ago with a doppelganger taking his place.
Conspiracy theorists believe strange ideas, but these outlandish beliefs rest on a solid foundation of disbelief. Scientific literacy provides people with two key resources for resisting conspiracy theories: scientific knowledge, which helps people identify factual information, and scientific literacy, which helps people identify factual information.
Research has shown that most Americans believe in conspiracy theories of some sort. Belief in conspiracy theories is often taken to be a paradigm of epistemic irrationality, but it is not true that conspiracy theorists commonly believe contradictory conspiracies. Everyone is susceptible to misinformation or being led astray online, and knowing when to follow intuition or look for more facts is essential. A new review finds that only some methods to counteract conspiracy beliefs are effective, and conspiracy theories are more complex than you might think and spreading faster and farther than ever.
📹 Insane Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out to be True
The truth may be out there, but there are millions of lies out there too, and that doesn’t mean every conspiracy is false – In fact, …
📹 Insane Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out to be True
Conspiracy theories have been around for ages, and most of the time they are laughed about and pushed to the side.
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