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...]
While investigators work to find out what caused multiple wildfires in the Los Angeles area, some conspiracies about the fires' origins have spread on social media platforms. Posts about baseless theories — ranging from celebrity involvement to secret government weapons…[Continue Reading...]
This week, a series of fires erupted in Los Angeles and swept through parts of the city, the infernos setting some of its wealthiest neighborhoods alight. A recent severe drought, alongside hurricane-force winds, supercharged the flames, and the city struggled to respond. Although many responded…[Continue Reading...]
Conspiracy theories and extreme misogyny are in danger of becoming mainstream in the UK, a report from the Government's former counter-extremism tsar warns. Extremist narratives are becoming normalised among all age groups thanks to a 'growing appetite for conspiracy theories',…[Continue Reading...]
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…[Continue Reading...]
Believing conspiracy narratives is frequently assumed to be a major cause of vaccine hesitancy, i.e., the tendency to forgo vaccination despite its availability. In this scoping review, we synthesise and critically evaluate studies that assess i) the occurrence of vaccine-related…[Continue Reading...]
In News Decoder’s Top Tips, we share advice for young people from experts in journalism, media literacy and education. In this week’s Top Tip, News Decoder Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner discusses the danger of spreading conspiracy theories and offers…[Continue Reading...]
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