Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.[1] People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias cannot be eliminated, but it can be managed, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills. Bia ..read more

Golec de Zavala, A., & Federico, C. M.. (2018). Collective narcissism and the growth of conspiracy thinking over the course of the 2016 United States presidential election: A longitudinal analysis. European Journal of Social Psychology Plain numerical DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2496 DOI URL directSciHub download Show/hide publication abstract “Using data from a longitudinal study of american adults collected between july and november 2016, we examine the hypothesis that american collective narcissism (cn) would uniquely predict increases in conspiracy thinking during the 2016 presidential campaign ..read more

Oliveira, T., Wang, Z., & Xu, J.. (2022). Scientific Disinformation in Times of Epistemic Crisis: Circulation of Conspiracy Theories on Social Media Platforms. Online Media and Global Communication Plain numerical DOI: 10.1515/omgc-2022-0005 DOI URL directSciHub download Show/hide publication abstract “The spread of disinformation about science in social media has been a major concern worldwide, especially at a time of crisis in which all institutions that produce knowledge and truth, including science, are delegitimized or discredited by society. given this, the purpose of this research ..read more

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/coronavirus-response/fighting-disinformation/identifying-conspiracy-theories_en#conspiracy-theories-the-link-to-covid-19 ..read more

Logical fallacies are invalid arguments, “fallacious cognitions,” for example, arguments that seem irrefutable (not falsifiable) but prove nothing. Fallacies often seem superficially sound (appeal to emotion) and they far too often retain immense persuasive power even after being clearly exposed as false. Like epidemics, fallacies sometimes “burn through” entire populations, often with the most tragic results, before their power is diminished or lost. Fallacies are not always deliberate, but a good scholar’s purpose is always to identify and unmask fallacies in arguments. Note that m ..read more

Meuer, M., & Imhoff, R.. (2021). Believing in hidden plots is associated with decreased behavioral trust: Conspiracy belief as greater sensitivity to social threat or insensitivity towards its absence?. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 93, 104081. Plain numerical DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104081 DOI URL directSciHub download Show/hide publication abstract “Past research has demonstrated that conspiracy belief is linked to a low level of self-reported general trust. in four experimental online studies (total n = 1105) we examined whether this relationship translated into actual be ..read more

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656621000659 Abstract The present cross-sectional study (NParticipants = 397; NInformants = 460) examined the association of both grandiose narcissism and vulnerable narcissism with conspiracy beliefs in the context of four theoretically-relevant mediators. Participants who were higher in grandiose narcissism and vulnerable narcissism were more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, seemingly because they were more likely to hold unusual beliefs. There was, likewise, some evidence to suggest that those high in vulnerable narcissism ..read more

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101386 Abstract Narcissism—a conviction about one’s superiority and entitlement to special treatment—is a robust predictor of belief in conspiracy theories. Recent developments in the study of narcissism suggest that it has three components: antagonism, agentic extraversion, and neuroticism. We argue that each of these components of narcissism might predispose people to endorse conspiracy theories due to different psychological processes. Specifically, we discuss the role of paranoia, gullibility, and the needs for dominance, control, and uniqueness. We al ..read more

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