Join us for the second installment of Internal Colloquium Series! This semester, Russell Fazio (Professor, Social) will discuss recent research on conspiracy beliefs and truth assessment.
This is an in-person event with a virtual option. Request a Zoom link by contacting Kevin McCarthy at mccarthy.232@osu.edu.
Title: From the Pandemic to Conspiracy Beliefs and Misinformation
Abstract: Scientific interest in both conspiracy beliefs and misinformation has grown dramatically over the last few years. The importance of these issues became readily apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal research conducted by my lab documented that conspiracist ideation and the acceptance of misinformation about COVID-19 were strongly predictive of the likelihood that an individual would contract the virus. Inspired by these findings, we recently have pursued two lines of research – one concerning conspiracy beliefs and the other concerning truth assessment. The former focuses on belief in a specific conspiracy theory as a gateway to further conspiracist ideation. The latter involves a brief intervention whose aim is to decrease the likelihood that individuals will assume that false statements are true. After overviewing the pandemic findings, I will present a summary of what we have learned regarding the gateway conspiracy hypothesis and individuals’ acceptance of falsehoods.