Do Real and Invented Scandals Fuel Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories?

IF 1.7 4区 心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Pascal Wagner-Egger, Daniel de Oliveira Fernandes, Joana Carrel, S. Delouvée
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract: 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.
真实的和虚构的丑闻会助长阴谋论的信仰吗?
摘要:引言:阴谋论信徒经常声称,他们相信阴谋论并不像学者们经常说的那样是基于非理性的理由,而是因为历史上发生过真正的丑闻和阴谋。方法:我们测试了提醒人们政治、经济或科学领域的真实丑闻,以及对虚构丑闻(即没有发生的丑闻)的揭露是否会增加阴谋论的信念。第二个研究问题是,阴谋信念是否与区分真实丑闻和虚构丑闻呈正相关。结果:我们的研究结果表明,提醒人们真实的丑闻并让他们接触捏造的丑闻不会影响他们的阴谋信念。较高的阴谋论信徒在识别虚构丑闻方面略好于较低的阴谋论者,但在识别真实丑闻方面稍差。左翼政治倾向的参与者在识别真实丑闻方面也略好于右翼政治倾向的人。讨论/结论:提醒人们真实和虚构的丑闻对阴谋论的信念没有短期影响。这篇文章支持阴谋论对社会批判没有帮助的论点,因为阴谋论的信徒越高,在识别实际丑闻方面并不比信徒越低。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
European Journal of Psychology Open
European Journal of Psychology Open PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-
CiteScore
2.20
自引率
8.30%
发文量
9
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