Clocks across the state sprung ahead by an hour. Brenda Rotert, sleep lab coordinator at Avera Health, discusses the health effects of daylight savings (1:00 to 8:05). We bring you a 2024 conversation with Joel Allen, Ph.D., and Jeff Pospisil…[Continue Reading...]
Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? New research has highlighted an important factor: spite. Conspiracy theories—alternative explanations for major events that reject well-evidenced explanations in favor of implausible, illogical, or fantastical secret plots—have surged in popularity, particularly in times…[Continue Reading...]
This story is an accompaniment to a podcast series released by NPR's Embedded called Alternate Realities. You can listen to all three episodes here or wherever you listen to podcasts. About a year ago, my dad bet me $10,000 that…[Continue Reading...]
Conspiracy theories are all over social media. For some, that's as far as they go. But for reporter Zach Mack, conspiracy theories have infiltrated his family. After Mack's father became obsessed with conspiracy thinking, family relationships began to fray. Today…[Continue Reading...]
In an era of rampant misinformation and conspiracy theories amplified by social media, one of the most devastating consequences is the strain on personal relationships. Family members are left bewildered by the changes in loved ones, and some turn to…[Continue Reading...]
Fostering critical thinking can be an effective method to reduce people’s tendency to believe in conspiracy theories, an experimental study by University College Cork (UCC) psychologists has found. The study is the first to directly compare methods used to reduce…[Continue Reading...]
Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, false narratives can be incredibly sticky. Many people insist that the earth is flat, that childhood vaccines cause autism, or that climate change is a hoax, despite ample scientific evidence to the contrary.…[Continue Reading...]
“Investigating the Paranormal” My training and professional work have been in Mesoamerican archaeology, but I’ve had a lifelong fascination with paranormal concepts. In fact, I considered studying the UFO community for my doctoral research in cultural anthropology. I eventually fused…[Continue Reading...]
LA wildfire keeps growing, and so do the conspiracy theories, hate, and misinformation. Social media, especially X and TikTok, has become a toxic pool of conspiracy theories and hate campaigns against some communities. Studies suggest that social media algorithms have…[Continue Reading...]
This post is part two of a two-part series. The previous post in this series examined the Adaptive Conspiracism Hypothesis (Van Prooijen and Van Vugt, 2018). According to this perspective, the tendency to engage in conspiracy thinking is innate in…[Continue Reading...]
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