Analyzing the Prophylactic and Therapeutic Role of Inoculation to Facilitate Resistance to Conspiracy Theory Beliefs

Abstract

Conspiracy theories pose a variety of social and psychological consequences for individuals and society, and research suggests that around half of the U.S. population believes at least one. A two-phase inoculation experiment was conducted. Inoculated participants reported more negative general attitudes toward conspiracy theories and lower Phase II generic conspiracist beliefs, which are both indicators of harm-reduction and the beneficial healing impacts of therapeutic inoculation. The addition of therapeutic inoculation as a harm-reduction or healing technique in practitioners’ stakeholder response toolkit is a valuable contribution to both theory and practice.

Keywords:

• conspiracy theory
• generic conspiracist beliefs scale
• inoculation theory
• resistance to persuasion
• therapeutic inoculation

Acknowledgments

We thank the research participants, the Communication Research Lab, and Department of Communication for supporting these research efforts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).