Unit 9
Activity 2
Why facts aren't always enough
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angt-unit9-activity2.mp3
When someone falls down a conspiracy rabbit hole, there are very few proven ways to pull them out, according to a new analysis.
The study is a review of research on attempts to counteract conspiratorial thinking, and it finds that common strategies that involve counterarguments and fact-checking largely fail to change people's beliefs. The most promising ways to combat conspiratorial thinking seem to involve prevention, either warning people ahead of time about a particular conspiracy theory or explicitly teaching them how to spot shoddy evidence. [...]
Counteracting conspiracy beliefs is important because beliefs in conspiracies can encourage people to act in harmful ways, says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor of communication [...]. The people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, believed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen, for example. And believers in COVID vaccine conspiracies put themselves at risk from the disease by refusing to get vaccinated. But the field is so young that trying to compare individual studies is fraught, Jamieson says. [...]
If it's hard to change entrenched conspiracy beliefs, the silver lining is that it's also hard to make people believe in conspiracies, contrary to popular conception, Uscinski says. In 2022 he and his colleagues published research in PLOS ONE that found no evidence that conspiracy beliefs are growing, despite their visibility on social media. Changing entrenched beliefs of any kind is challenging, Uscinski says, especially if those beliefs are closely tied to someone's worldview. “Sometimes people pick the beliefs that they want, and they do what they want because of who they are,” he adds.
For individuals interested in challenging conspiracy thinking, the authors of the new review provide some tips:
1. Don't appeal to emotion. The research suggests that emotional strategies don't work to budge belief.
2. Don't get sucked into factual arguments. Debates over the facts of a conspiracy theory or the consequences of believing in a particular conspiracy also fail to make much difference, the authors found.
3. Focus on prevention. The best strategies seem to involve helping people recognize unreliable information and untrustworthy sources before they're exposed to a specific belief.
4. Support education and analysis. Putting people into an analytic mindset and explicitly teaching them how to evaluate information appears most protective against conspiracy rabbit holes.
The study is a review of research on attempts to counteract conspiratorial thinking, and it finds that common strategies that involve counterarguments and fact-checking largely fail to change people's beliefs. The most promising ways to combat conspiratorial thinking seem to involve prevention, either warning people ahead of time about a particular conspiracy theory or explicitly teaching them how to spot shoddy evidence. [...]
Counteracting conspiracy beliefs is important because beliefs in conspiracies can encourage people to act in harmful ways, says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor of communication [...]. The people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, believed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen, for example. And believers in COVID vaccine conspiracies put themselves at risk from the disease by refusing to get vaccinated. But the field is so young that trying to compare individual studies is fraught, Jamieson says. [...]
If it's hard to change entrenched conspiracy beliefs, the silver lining is that it's also hard to make people believe in conspiracies, contrary to popular conception, Uscinski says. In 2022 he and his colleagues published research in PLOS ONE that found no evidence that conspiracy beliefs are growing, despite their visibility on social media. Changing entrenched beliefs of any kind is challenging, Uscinski says, especially if those beliefs are closely tied to someone's worldview. “Sometimes people pick the beliefs that they want, and they do what they want because of who they are,” he adds.
For individuals interested in challenging conspiracy thinking, the authors of the new review provide some tips:
1. Don't appeal to emotion. The research suggests that emotional strategies don't work to budge belief.
2. Don't get sucked into factual arguments. Debates over the facts of a conspiracy theory or the consequences of believing in a particular conspiracy also fail to make much difference, the authors found.
3. Focus on prevention. The best strategies seem to involve helping people recognize unreliable information and untrustworthy sources before they're exposed to a specific belief.
4. Support education and analysis. Putting people into an analytic mindset and explicitly teaching them how to evaluate information appears most protective against conspiracy rabbit holes.
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PATH A
B1
1-A
According to the study, why is it difficult
to change people's conspiracy beliefs once
they are established?
2-A
Find examples to show the dangers of
conspiracy theories.
3-A
Which strategies are presented as the most
effective to fight conspiracy thinking?
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PATH B
B2
1-B
Identify the least and most effective ways
to change conspiracy beliefs.
2-B
How do Jamieson's and Uscinski's viewpoints
help counter the idea that conspiracy theories
are “spreading everywhere”?
3-B
How are conspiracy beliefs connected
to a person's identity or worldview?
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Let's talk this out!
4
Share your findings. Explain why conspiracy theories are difficult to fight and what strategies seem to work best.
5
Do you think social media makes it easier or harder for people to resist conspiracy theories? Why?
6
How does education help protect people from conspiracy thinking?
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Give a keynote speech at a conference on conspiracies.
You are a sociologist invited to speak at a public conference on conspiracy theories. Explain why conspiracy narratives can be so convincing and why people may be drawn to them in times of uncertainty. Your goal is to inform a general audience and help them better understand the mechanisms behind conspiracy thinking.
You are a sociologist invited to speak at a public conference on conspiracy theories. Explain why conspiracy narratives can be so convincing and why people may be drawn to them in times of uncertainty. Your goal is to inform a general audience and help them better understand the mechanisms behind conspiracy thinking.
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