Study: Conspiracy theories lower trust in government and increase opposition to Covid-19 prevention measures

The spread of the Corona virus and the resulting restrictions led to an increased awareness and reporting on conspiracy theories. Scientists from the IWM in Tübingen in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen investigated the influence these theories have on society and the fight against the corona virus.

In this recently published study, the researchers found that even confronting people with conspiracy theories can have negative societal consequences: Trust in state institutions and the support of governmental measures declines, as does the adaptation of physical distancing. "Remarkable here was that the effects were not only found in subjects who already believed in conspiracy theories, but also in other subjects, only after reading about a fictitious conspiracy theory," explained the initiator of the study Lotte Pummerer, who is a research associate in the Social Processes lab at the IWM.

Link to study: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19485506211000217