Question 1

What is an effective technique to reduce the resistance to alternative theories for someone who believes a conspiracy exists?

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

When people believe in conspiracy theories, they are often very worried about something and can feel powerless and alienated. In a conversation with someone who believes in conspiracy theories, it would not be constructive to be hostile, or behave in a way that ridicules them. This dismisses their concerns and might alienate them even further. It is therefore important to hear them out. It is challenging talking to conspiracy believers though because they have often "done their homework" - that is, they usually know a lot more about the conspiracy theory and associated "evidence" than other people do. So when you get into a conversation with someone who believes strongly in a conspiracy theory, it is quite difficult to sway them, or even to keep up with the conversation. However, I think that one useful strategy would be to appeal to the value of critical thinking. Many conspiracy believers also strongly believe that they are critical thinkers who are trying to uncover the truth whereas others are not (they are "sheep"). One strategy therefore might be to appeal to this value and ask the conspiracy believer to critically think about their information - where did it come from? who said it? is this a credible source? This might uncover flaws in the conspiracy theory and you might be able to challenge them this way. This may also prevent a person from automatically believing other conspiracy theories when they come across them.

Question 2

Question 3

My brother and I have very different views about Trump and his politics and beliefs. He supports his views and I don't. He is well educated and holds a responsible job. Why are we so different?

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

People differ in their political views for all sorts of reasons. Although you might have had the same upbringing, many of your experiences will be different, and you will of course differ in your personality traits. There are some interesting articles on the "partisan brain", including biological and social factors that predict political orientation. You can read here, for example, as a starting point: https://theconversation.com/the-partisan-brain-cognitive-study-suggests-people-on-the-left-and-right-are-more-similar-than-they-think-123578.

Question 4

What about the risks of censorship? Isn't controlling the spread of information a slippery slope? Who decides what is correct? Informed people know that there are grey areas in life and the peer review process can be biased.

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

Of course it is a tricky issue. As a social psychologist, I am interested in why people are attracted to these alternative narratives we call conspiracy theories rather than censorship or deciding what is right and what is wrong. Conspiracy theories can sometimes be harmful though (e.g., stopping people from getting vaccinated, climate denial, prejudice), so in some cases, it is clear that something needs to be done to control the spread of conspiracy theories.

Question 5

How to recognise the difference between the paranoid/conspiracy-beliefs vs authentic questioning & caring about the sometimes absurd misuse of power?

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

As a social psychologist interested in understanding why people are attracted to conspiracy theories, and what their consequences are, this is not an easy question for me to answer. However, when a person believes in one conspiracy theory, they often tend to believe in others. Some argue that there is therefore some kind of conspiracy thinking mindset or a general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories that is associated with variables like general paranoia and mistrust. This may perhaps be different to a situation where a person is suspicious about one set of people (e.g., the government) abusing their power. He/she may not believe in other conspiracy theories.

Question 6

Is censorship likely to actually strengthen the conspiracy theorists attitudes?

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

This is likely, yes. When people believe strongly in a conspiracy theory, it is often difficult to convince them otherwise, and people arguing against conspiracy theories are often seen as part of the conspiracy. This is not my area of expertise, but I suspect that removal of information or censorship or information will be met with severe suspicion amongst people who believe in conspiracy theories. They may search for information elsewhere (e.g., more extreme sources), which could have the consequence of strengthening their attitudes.

Question 7

How to help people with anti-science beliefs when big tobacco lied about cancer and used doctors' endorsements to promote smoking, big food funds nutrition research, lack of transparency by big pharma etc?

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

One reason why people believe in conspiracy theories is of course because conspiracies have happened in the past. Some level of mistrust and skepticism is therefore understandable. Decreasing trust in science is becoming a big problem though and it needs to be dealt with. You can read more about rejection of science (and what to about it) here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167217741314, and this is also an interesting and useful article for understanding this topic: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721416654436.

Question 8

Are conservatives more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than liberals?

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

Research suggests that although belief in conspiracy theories tends to be higher amongst right-wing individuals, that people on the extreme left-wing also are quite strong believers. So, there is something like a U-shaped function so that people on both extremes seem to tend toward conspiracy thinking. You can read more about conspiracy thinking and political ideology here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154620300358, and here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550614567356?journalCode=sppa.

Question 9

Can personality traits predict the tendency to believe in conspiracy theories?

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

We have written about the connection between personality traits and belief in conspiracy theories here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721417718261 and here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pops.12568. Rather than a "personality profile" of a conspiracy believer though, the research suggests that people are attracted to conspiracy theories when important psychological needs are frustrated. In particular, epistemic needs (for knowledge and certainty), existential needs (for safety and security), and social needs (to maintain self-esteem) are associated with belief in conspiracy theories.

Question 10

Do facts change minds?

Karen Douglas · Accepted Answer

Yes, they do. People who believe in conspiracy theories can be persuaded by factual information. Exactly how and when to present that information is a difficult question though. In our research, we have found that efforts to reduce belief in conspiracy theories are more successful if information is presented before, rather than after, the conspiracy theory has taken root: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jasp.12453. However, other research has shown that debunking misinformation more generally can be more successful after the conspiracy information has been encoded: https://www.pnas.org/content/118/5/e2020043118. More research needs to be done.

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