Can Debunked Conspiracy Theories Change Radicalized Views? Evidence from Racial Prejudice and Anti-China Sentiment Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

With the advent of the ‘age of conspiracism’, the harmfulness of conspiratorial narratives and mindsets on individuals’ mentalities, on social relations, and on democracy, has been widely researched by political scientists and psychologists. One known negative effect of conspiracy theories is the escalation toward political radicalism. This study goes beyond the exploration of mechanisms underpinning the relationship between conspiracy theory and radicalization to focus on possible approaches to mitigating them. This study sheds light on the role of counter-conspiracy approaches in the process of deradicalization, adopting the case study of anti-China sentiment and racial prejudice amid the Covid-19 pandemic, through conducting an experiment ( N = 300). The results suggest that, during critical events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, exposure to countermeasures to conspiracist information can reduce individual acceptance of radicalism. We investigated two methods of countering conspiracy theory, and found that: (1) a content-targeted ‘inoculation’ approach to countering conspiracy theory can prevent the intensification of radicalization, but does not produce a significant deradicalization effect; and (2) an audience-focused ‘disenchantment’ method can enable cognitive deradicalization, effectively reducing the perception of competitive victimhood, and of real and symbolic threats. This study is one of the first attempts to address causality between deradicalization and countermeasures to conspiracy theories in the US-China relations.

Tyranny of Balance in News Increases Climate Change Denialism in Indonesian Society

“…In the political context, belief in conspiracy theories makes it easier for people to be controlled by certain authorities to the point where people are directed to commit acts of violence and undermine democratic institutions [30]. Another study confirmed that at the interpersonal level, belief in conspiracies leads to the justification of violent and radical behavior [31]. Effective refutation of conspiracy theories can have deradicalization effects and reduce prejudice in society [32].…”

The experiences of UK-Chinese individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative interview study

“…Reporting guidelines could be developed to reduce harm caused by media coverage of pandemics in future. For example, a survey study of 300 adults in the USA demonstrated that content-targeted and audience-focused countermeasures to anti-China conspiracy theories related to the pandemic could limit, or even reverse, radicalisation [ 35 ]. Even beyond exacerbating negative perceptions of individuals of Chinese ethnicity, commentaries have highlighted that the overly-simplistic framing of democracy versus authoritarianism in the discourse comparing responses to the pandemic in the UK (and the USA and Western Europe generally) and mainland China, may have inhibited knowledge sharing and cooperation that could have ameliorated the global impact of the pandemic [ 22 , 36 , 37 ].…”