Philosophy and Conspiracy Theories

Räikkä, Juha; Ritola, Juho

doi:10.4324/9780429452734-1_4

Cited by 21 publications

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“…There is growing evidence that increased hesitancy, as well as reduced intentions to comply with public health behaviours such as mask-wearing, can be related to false information and conspiracy theories, which decrease trust in the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, reduce perceptions of the risks posed by COVID-19, and increase vaccine hesitancy 67–69 7 70 . Defining conspiracy theories (CTs) is not easy 71 but broadly they are, “narratives about events or situations, that allege there are secret plans to carry out sinister deeds” 72 . Research into CTs has grown in recent decades, particularly in understanding CTs (“conspiracy theory theory” 73 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccine hesitancy for COVID-19 explored in a phenomic study of 259 socio-cognitive-behavioural measures in the UK-REACH study of 12,431 UK healthcare workers

McManus

Woolf

Martin

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background Vaccination is key to successful prevention of COVID-19 particularly nosocomial acquired infection in health care workers (HCWs). 'Vaccine hesitancy' is common in the population and in HCWs, and like COVID-19 itself, hesitancy is more frequent in ethnic minority groups. UK-REACH (United Kingdom Research study into Ethnicity and COVID-19 outcomes) is a large-scale study of COVID-19 in UK HCWs from diverse ethnic backgrounds, which includes measures of vaccine hesitancy. The present study explores predictors of vaccine hesitancy using a 'phenomic approach', considering several hundred questionnaire-based measures. Methods UK-REACH includes a questionnaire study encompassing 12,431 HCWs who were recruited from December 2020 to March 2021 and completed a lengthy online questionnaire (785 raw items; 392 derived measures; 260 final measures). Ethnicity was classified using the Office for National Statistics' five (ONS5) and eighteen (ONS18) categories. Missing data were handled by multiple imputation. Variable selection used the islasso package in R, which provides standard errors so that results from imputations could be combined using Rubin's rules. The data were modelled using path analysis, so that predictors, and predictors of predictors could be assessed. Significance testing used the Bayesian approach of Kass and Raftery, a 'very strong' Bayes Factor of 150, N=12,431, and a Bonferroni correction giving a criterion of p<4.02 x 10-8 for the main regression, and p<3.11 x 10-10 for variables in the path analysis. Results At the first step of the phenomic analysis, six variables were direct predictors of greater vaccine hesitancy: Lower pro-vaccination attitudes; no flu vaccination in 2019-20; pregnancy; higher COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs; younger age; and lower optimism the roll-out of population vaccination. Overall 44 lower variables in total were direct or indirect predictors of hesitancy, with the remaining 215 variables in the phenomic analysis not independently predicting vaccine hesitancy. Key variables for predicting hesitancy were belief in conspiracy theories of COVID-19 infection, and a low belief in vaccines in general. Conspiracy beliefs had two main sets of influences: i) Higher Fatalism, which was influenced a) by high external and chance locus of control and higher need for closure, which in turn were associated with neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness; and b) by religion being important in everyday life, and being Muslim. ii) receiving information via social media, not having higher education, and perceiving greater risks to self, the latter being influenced by higher concerns about spreading COVID, greater exposure to COVID-19, and financial concerns. There were indirect effects of ethnicity, mediated by religion. Religion was more important for Pakistani and African HCWs, and less important for White and Chinese groups. Lower age had a direct effect on hesitancy, and age and female sex also had several indirect effects on hesitancy. Conclusions The phenomic approach, coupled with a path analysis revealed a complex network of social, cognitive, and behavioural influences on SARS-Cov-2 vaccine hesitancy from 44 measures, 6 direct and 38 indirect, with the remaining 215 measures not having direct or indirect effects on hesitancy. It is likely that issues of trust underpin many associations with hesitancy. Understanding such a network of influences may help in tailoring interventions to address vaccine concerns and facilitate uptake in more hesistant groups.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccine hesitancy for COVID-19 explored in a phenomic study of 259 socio-cognitive-behavioural measures in the UK-REACH study of 12,431 UK healthcare workers

McManus

Woolf

Martin

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Since psychological research on belief in conspiracy theories tends to focus on conspiracy theories researchers deem irrational (e.g., because they contradict scientific evidence), mobilising such a generic definition may lead to erroneous theoretical inference. It may also fuel controversies about the weaponization of the label DEFINING CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN PSYCHOLOGY 4 "conspiracy theory" (Hagen, 2018;Husting & Orr, 2007;Räikkä & Ritola, 2020) and disrupt interdisciplinary discussions (Butter & Knight, 2015).…”

Section: What Is So Special About Conspiracy Theories? Conceptually D...mentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is So Special About Conspiracy Theories? Conceptually Distinguishing Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories from Conspiracy Beliefs in Psychological Research

Nera¹,

Schöpfer²

2022

Preprint

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In psychological research, conspiracy theories are often defined as explanations of events involving the hidden action of a small group pursuing a self-serving agenda, which results in two issues. First, such a definition does not distinguish between conspiracy theories and other conspiracy-based explanations (e.g., the assassination of Julius Caesar) - even though such a distinction is at the core of most attempts to define conspiracy theories. In addition, it implies that conspiracy theories are necessarily about events, whereas they can question any aspects of reality. Since research tends to focus on belief in conspiracy theories - in the common understanding of the expression - relying on such a definition may lead to erroneous theoretical inference. Based on more elaborated definitions of conspiracy theories and a conceptual re-engineering approach (Brun, 2016), we propose a new definition of conspiracy theories that distinguishes them from other conspiracy claims, and that is operative at the psychological level. We propose that conspiracy theories can be defined as claims that the public is being intentionally misled by epistemic authorities regarding some aspect of reality, to allow a group to secretly enact an unlawful, self-serving agenda. Thus, in our approach, conspiracy theories involve two interwoven conspiracies.

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“…One explanation for this is that such kind of theories may not actually be believed. Rather, they may only be considered “live options” or interesting possibilities and this is why they admit contradictions (Räikkä & Ritola, 2020; Ichino & Räikkä, 2020, pp. 8–9).…”

Section: The Assertion‐deception Viewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The signaling function of sharing fake stories

Ganapini

2021

Mind & Language

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Why do people share or publicly engage with fake stories? Two possible answers come to mind: (a) people are deeply irrational and believe these stories to be true; or (b) they intend to deceive their audience. Both answers presuppose the idea that people put the stories forward as true. But I argue that in some cases, these outlandish (yet also very popular) stories function as signals of one's group membership. This signaling function can make better sense of why, despite their unusual nature or lack of a factual basis, some of these stories are so widespread.

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Philosophy and Conspiracy Theories

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

Vaccine hesitancy for COVID-19 explored in a phenomic study of 259 socio-cognitive-behavioural measures in the UK-REACH study of 12,431 UK healthcare workers

Vaccine hesitancy for COVID-19 explored in a phenomic study of 259 socio-cognitive-behavioural measures in the UK-REACH study of 12,431 UK healthcare workers

What Is So Special About Conspiracy Theories? Conceptually Distinguishing Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories from Conspiracy Beliefs in Psychological Research

The signaling function of sharing fake stories

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