What drives people to believe in Zika conspiracy theories?
What drives people to believe in Zika conspiracy theories?
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DOI：
10.1057/s41599-019-0243-8
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发表时间：
2019-04-02
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
West, Jonathan P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Klofstad, Casey A.;Uscinski, Joseph E.;West, Jonathan P.
关于寨卡病毒的阴谋论和其他伪科学主张在社交媒体上十分突出。公众对这种病毒的关注程度如何？公众在多大程度上接受了寨卡阴谋论？利用 2016 年合作国会选举研究的数据，我们表明大多数美国人并不担心寨卡病毒，但大约五分之一的美国人至少相信一种与寨卡相关的阴谋论。最广泛的认为该病毒是由转基因蚊子引起的。我们发现，阴谋思维水平的升高与对寨卡病毒的担忧以及对寨卡相关阴谋论的信仰相关。例如，在阴谋思维量表上得分最高的人估计会相信 0.61 的寨卡阴谋论，而得分最低的人估计只会相信 0.06 的寨卡阴谋论。这项研究证明了倾向，特别是潜在的阴谋思维，在接受阴谋和不科学信仰方面的作用。
Conspiracy theories and other pseudo-scientific claims about the Zika virus have been prominent on social media. 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. The most widely believed is that the virus is caused by genetically modified mosquitoes. We find that elevated levels of conspiracy thinking are correlated with both concern over Zika and belief in Zika-related conspiracy theories. For example, a person scoring the maximum on the conspiratorial thinking scale is estimated to believe in .61 Zika conspiracy theories while a person scoring the minimum is estimated to believe in only .06 Zika conspiracy theories. This study demonstrates the role of predispositions, specifically underlying conspiracy thinking, in the acceptance of conspiratorial and unscientific beliefs.