Examining Therapeutic Interventions to Combat Conspiracies

Individuals who adopt conspiracies and deny science and facts often face social exclusion which leads to superstitious and conspiracy beliefs. This can also lead individuals to search for like-minded others who can further reinforce their beliefs like an echo chamber. Some who are socially excluded will attempt to search for meaning in life which can lead them to adopt conspiracies. Furthermore, individuals who lack knowledge on a certain topic or field—which increases their feeling of uncertainty and anxiety—will adopt conspiracies and deny science and facts because they are unsure who to trust or trust others too easily. For instance, Maranda Dynda, a teenage mother, did not have a lot of knowledge about vaccines and did not know if she should vaccinate her child. She remembers her midwife telling her about how vaccines cause autism in children. However, as she already had an installed belief before searching for facts, a lot of the information she got from the internet and social media only reinforced her confirmation bias: vaccines can potentially cause disability in my child. In other words, Dynda was researching about her preexisting false belief and she automatically ignored conflicting information.  

The best way to persuade individuals to change their minds—to vaccinate their child, despite their beliefs that vaccines are harmful, or to change denial beliefs related to climate change—is to increase social inclusion as this can counteract and diminish the dissemination of superstitious and conspiratorial beliefs. Another way is to provide positive feedback such as saying “good job” or giving some sort of reward that will encourage and reinforce the same healthy behavior. Additionally, using an influential person can also persuade individuals to change their minds. For instance, Mary Montagu wanted to bring variolation—a resisted and unpopular treatment idea—back to England. She convinced Princess Caroline of Ansbach to variolate her own two small daughters in a public setting which gave evidence to people that this was a safe practice. This also persuaded people to conform to the norm and share a practice with an influential person.