9/9/2023 0 Comments Conspire 2016The relationship between these two concepts is not unlike the difference between partisanship and beliefs about specific political candidates and issues: partisanship certainly predicts more specific political opinions, but not perfectly, and is different than candidate or issue choice (Zaller, 1992). We note that underlying conspiracy thinking and beliefs in specific conspiracy theories are different concepts (Uscinski et al., 2017) the former is a general predisposition while the latter are specific beliefs about specific theories. Conspiracy thinking is also associated with the rejection of scientific findings (Marietta and Barker, 2018, Lewandowsky et al., 2013a). Previous studies have shown that high levels of conspiracy thinking lead individuals to believe in conspiracy theories about elections (Wood, 2016), the media (Uscinski et al., 2016), downed airliners (Nyhan et al., 2016), Jews (Swami, 2012), sports (Carey et al., 2016), and 9/11 (Wood, 2016). All else equal, the higher a person is on that continuum, the more likely they will be to accept a specific conspiracy theory. Individuals are distributed along a continuum in regard to the strength of their conspiracy thinking. For example, one conspiracy theory claims that the government secretly created and released Zika (Grimm, 2016).Ĭonspiracy thinking (sometimes called conspiracist ideation) is an underlying worldview that to one degree or another disposes individuals to reject official accounts and accuse powerful actors of collusion (Brotherton et al., 2013 Imhoff and Bruder, 2013 Lewandowsky et al., 2013b Uscinski et al., 2016). A conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event or circumstance that cites as a main causal factor a small group working in secret against the common good (Uscinski and Parent, 2014) these explanations tend to contradict the judgements of epistemological authorities (Levy, 2007). Instead of relying on authoritative sources, such as the World Health Organization, which states that Zika is a naturally occurring virus, many people have trafficked in conspiracy theories to explain Zika (Kadri and Trapp-Petty, 2016 Venkatraman et al., 2016 Bode and Vraga, 2018). Protecting public health depends on people electing vaccination (when available) and engaging in other precautions to limit transmission. Infection during pregnancy could cause birth defects, including microcephaly (Nunes et al., 2016). The Zika virus is spread primarily through the bite of an infected mosquito, but it can also be sexually transmitted (Campos et al., 2015). This study demonstrates the role of predispositions, specifically underlying conspiracy thinking, in the acceptance of conspiratorial and unscientific beliefs. 61 Zika conspiracy theories while a person scoring the minimum is estimated to believe in only. For example, a person scoring the maximum on the conspiratorial thinking scale is estimated to believe in. We find that elevated levels of conspiracy thinking are correlated with both concern over Zika and belief in Zika-related conspiracy theories. The most widely believed is that the virus is caused by genetically modified mosquitoes. To what extent are the public concerned about the virus, and to what extent have the public adopted Zika conspiracy theories? Using data from the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we show that a majority of Americans are not concerned about the Zika virus, but approximately one in five Americans believes in at least one Zika-related conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theories and other pseudo-scientific claims about the Zika virus have been prominent on social media.
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