Browsing by Subject "salaliittouskomusten ennaltaehkäisy"

Conspiracy beliefs are widespread and they can have severe negative consequences both to the individual and to the society, such as the increase of negative health-related choices and prejudice. Previous studies have shown that in addition to various motives conspiracy beliefs are driven by different individual and societal psychological factors, such as implicit thinking and low sosioeconomic status. Much of the research has focused on what conspiracy beliefs are, what consequences they may have and what psychological factors may increase the risk for conspiracy beliefs. However, how to prevent and change conspiracy beliefs is less well known. The aim of this literature review was to discover how conspiracy beliefs can be prevented and changed. The studies for this literature review were searched from Google Scholar using the search terms "conspiracy beliefs meta analysis", "conspiracy beliefs review", "conspiracy theories review", "changing conspiracy beliefs", "conspiracy beliefs attitude change", "anti- conspiracy beliefs" and "reducing conspiracy beliefs", and from the reference lists of the articles found. According to this literature review, conspiracy beliefs could be prevented by providing individuals with information against conspiracy theories before information in favour of conspiracy theories, by priming individuals to think analytically or socially desirably, and by reducing individuals' experience of ostracism by strengthening their self-esteem. Rationalisation, ridiculing and influencing social norms were found to be effective ways of changing conspiracy beliefs after exposure to conspiracy theories. This literature review is one of the first ones to review information regarding the prevention and change of conspiracy beliefs. In future studies it would be essential to explore more extensively the psychological factors influencing conspiracy beliefs and the causal relationships between them in order to better target interventions and to prevent and change conspiracy beliefs and their negative consequences.