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The pandemic shows that people all over the world are influenced by fake news and conspiracy theories.
But what are the psychological reasons for this? And are there people who are more prone to this than others? Jacqueline F. fell prey to a fake news story on Instagram in 2019.
Police officers mistreated and hanged protesters at subway stations in Chile, according to a photo of a newspaper article that was shared on Instagram. At the time, Chileans were protesting against rising metro ticket prices. “I was completely shocked and thought, ‘What are the cops doing?'” says Jacqueline F. looking back. She accidentally fell prey to false news – others want to believe misinformation and conspiracy theories.
“It depends on my preferences.” explains conflict researcher Andreas Zick, “I believe in conspiracy myths when I have certain negative attitudes or stereotypes in advance.” Negative stereotypes can be, for example, the police, the government or even activists in the fight against climate change. Fear plays a big role in this, says psychology professor Andreas Kappes from City University in London.
While other experts think that the ability to distinguish between good and bad sources plays an important role. Many people, according to them, today are inclined to believe the same as the scientists, as well as a video they see on Youtube. A motivating factor during the pandemic is also boredom. Suddenly people have more time to browse the internet for a different number of sites and groups and so it seems like they belong to a community and are not alone.
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