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Penn State: Brief scientific literacy interventions may quash new conspiracy theories
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1066716Brief scientific literacy interventions may quash new conspiracy theories
December 2, 2024. By Francisco Tutella
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The more time you spend on social media, the likelier you are to have come across a viral post that seems too strange to be true. Brief scientific literacy interventions, especially those that focus on critical thinking skills, may help to undermine conspiracy beliefs and behaviors before the conspiracy theories have a chance to take root, according to a team led by Penn State researchers.
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“While some conspiracy beliefs may seem relatively harmless, others — about vaccines, genetically modified organisms and climate change, for example — pose risks to consumers and society,” said study co-author Lisa Bolton, professor of marketing and the Anchel Professor of Business Administration at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business.
The researchers conducted two studies in which they used national and international data to establish the connection between scientific literacy and conspiracy belief levels. They also conducted a series of eight science literacy studies, which included more than 2,700 participants in total, to determine how conspiracy beliefs can impact consumer actions and the effectiveness of scientific literacy to counteract such beliefs. They found that conspiracy beliefs — such as the ideas that agribusiness and big pharma are covering up the risks of genetically modified foods and vaccines, respectively — could affect what consumers choose to purchase or which medical procedures they decide to undergo.
They also found that brief interventions, like short videos focused on scientific knowledge and reasoning, undermined the conspiracy beliefs. The interventions were most effective against conspiracy theories built on faulty reasoning rather than narrative and against novel rather than entrenched conspiracies, even among high-conspiracy groups, according to the researchers.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucae024December 2, 2024. By Francisco Tutella
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The more time you spend on social media, the likelier you are to have come across a viral post that seems too strange to be true. Brief scientific literacy interventions, especially those that focus on critical thinking skills, may help to undermine conspiracy beliefs and behaviors before the conspiracy theories have a chance to take root, according to a team led by Penn State researchers.
…
“While some conspiracy beliefs may seem relatively harmless, others — about vaccines, genetically modified organisms and climate change, for example — pose risks to consumers and society,” said study co-author Lisa Bolton, professor of marketing and the Anchel Professor of Business Administration at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business.
The researchers conducted two studies in which they used national and international data to establish the connection between scientific literacy and conspiracy belief levels. They also conducted a series of eight science literacy studies, which included more than 2,700 participants in total, to determine how conspiracy beliefs can impact consumer actions and the effectiveness of scientific literacy to counteract such beliefs. They found that conspiracy beliefs — such as the ideas that agribusiness and big pharma are covering up the risks of genetically modified foods and vaccines, respectively — could affect what consumers choose to purchase or which medical procedures they decide to undergo.
They also found that brief interventions, like short videos focused on scientific knowledge and reasoning, undermined the conspiracy beliefs. The interventions were most effective against conspiracy theories built on faulty reasoning rather than narrative and against novel rather than entrenched conspiracies, even among high-conspiracy groups, according to the researchers.
…