Researchers identified a connection between low levels of media literacy and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in people who consume their news via social media.
With COVID-19 shots finally available for infants and preschoolers, knowing how to combat misinformation on social media and elsewhere could be more important than ever.
Conspiracy theories about mobile phone technology have been circulating since the 1990s and the imagined potential of radio waves to remote control a population.
Eryn Newman, Australian National University; Amy Dawel, Australian National University; Madeline Jalbert, University of Southern California et Norbert Schwarz, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Instead of debunking false claims, psychology shows promoting the facts is a more effective way to fight the spread of misinformation.
Conspiracy theories about COVID-19, such as those advanced in the video ‘Plandemic,’ tend to pull from the same playbook. Recognizing that can help keep you from falling for this kind of thinking.
Framing the fight against coronavirus as a spiritual war may stem from a shared sense of discomfort about an adversary without discernible conscience; an impersonal demon.
The conspiracy theory that Covid-19 was created in a laboratory has been widely reported, yet there is no evidence to support it. Why such theories thrive can easily be explained, however.
PODCAST: We explore the strange interpretations of where the coronavirus came from and why people are drawn to them in the final episode of The Anthill’s Expert guide to conspiracy theories.
Comparing death tolls between COVID-19 and the flu is the wrong way to gauge which disease is a bigger threat, according to researchers who study how people understand math.
As if attacks on health workers weren’t upsetting enough, reports indicate broadband engineers are now also being abused - as conspiracy theorists link 5G technology with to COVID-19’s spread.
Gullibility, cynicism, pride, closed mindedness, negligence and wishful thinking. If you can use any of these to describe your reasoning, it’s likely you’re committing a sin of thought.
Provost Professor of Psychology and Marketing and co-director of the Dornsife Mind & Society Center, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences