Conspiracy Theory as Individual and Group Behavior: Observations from the Flat Earth International Conference.

IF 2.9 2区 心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL
Topics in Cognitive Science Pub Date : 2024-04-01 Epub Date: 2023-05-18 DOI:10.1111/tops.12662
Philip M Fernbach, Jonathan E Bogard
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Conspiratorial thinking has been with humanity for a long time but has recently grown as a source of societal concern and as a subject of research in the cognitive and social sciences. We propose a three-tiered framework for the study of conspiracy theories: (1) cognitive processes, (2) the individual, and (3) social processes and communities of knowledge. At the level of cognitive processes, we identify explanatory coherence and faulty belief updating as critical ideas. At the level of the community of knowledge, we explore how conspiracy communities facilitate false belief by promoting a contagious sense of understanding, and how community norms catalyze the biased assimilation of evidence. We review recent research on conspiracy theories and explain how conspiratorial thinking emerges from the interaction of individual and group processes. As a case study, we describe observations the first author made while attending the Flat Earth International Conference, a meeting of conspiracy theorists who believe the Earth is flat. Rather than treating conspiracy belief as pathological, we take the perspective that is an extreme outcome of common cognitive processes.

作为个人和群体行为的阴谋论:来自平地国际会议的观察。
阴谋论思想与人类相伴已久,但近来已逐渐成为社会关注的焦点以及认知科学和社会科学的研究课题。我们提出了一个研究阴谋论的三层框架:(1) 认知过程,(2) 个人,(3) 社会过程和知识群体。在认知过程层面,我们将解释一致性和错误信念更新确定为关键观点。在知识社群层面,我们探讨了阴谋社群如何通过促进一种传染性的理解感来促进错误信念,以及社群规范如何催化对证据的偏颇吸收。我们回顾了最近关于阴谋论的研究,并解释了阴谋论思维是如何从个人和群体的互动过程中产生的。作为一个案例研究,我们描述了第一作者在参加 "平地球国际会议 "时的观察,这是一个由相信地球是平的阴谋论者组成的会议。我们并没有把阴谋论信仰视为病态,而是认为这是普通认知过程的极端结果。
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来源期刊
Topics in Cognitive Science
Topics in Cognitive Science PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL-
CiteScore
8.50
自引率
10.00%
发文量
52
期刊介绍: Topics in Cognitive Science (topiCS) is an innovative new journal that covers all areas of cognitive science including cognitive modeling, cognitive neuroscience, cognitive anthropology, and cognitive science and philosophy. topiCS aims to provide a forum for: -New communities of researchers- New controversies in established areas- Debates and commentaries- Reflections and integration The publication features multiple scholarly papers dedicated to a single topic. Some of these topics will appear together in one issue, but others may appear across several issues or develop into a regular feature. Controversies or debates started in one issue may be followed up by commentaries in a later issue, etc. However, the format and origin of the topics will vary greatly.
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