Summarising data and factors associated with COVID-19 related conspiracy theories in the first year of the pandemic: a systematic review and narrative synthesis

被引:0
作者
Konstantinos Tsamakis
Dimitrios Tsiptsios
Brendon Stubbs
Ruimin Ma
Eugenia Romano
Christoph Mueller
Ayesha Ahmad
Andreas S. Triantafyllis
George Tsitsas
Elena Dragioti
机构
[1] King’s College London,Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN)
[2] Attikon University General Hospital,Second Department of Psychiatry
[3] National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,Institute of Medical and Biomedical Education
[4] St George’s University of London,Neurology Department
[5] Democritus University of Thrace,Department of Cardiology
[6] South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust,Counselling Centre
[7] Asklepeion General Hospital Athens,Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Pain and Rehabilitation Centre
[8] Harokopio University,undefined
[9] Linköping University,undefined
来源
BMC Psychology | / 10卷
关键词
Conspiracy theories; Beliefs; COVID-19; Pandemic; First year; Public health; Misinformation; Infodemic;
D O I
暂无
中图分类号
学科分类号
摘要
Conspiracy theories can have particularly harmful effects by negatively shaping health-related behaviours. A significant number of COVID-19 specific conspiracy theories emerged in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic outbreak. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature on conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic (2020), to identify their prevalence, their determinants and their public health consequences. A comprehensive literature search was carried out in PubMed and PsycINFO to detect all studies examining any conspiracy theory related to COVID-19 between January 1st 2020, and January 10th 2021. Forty-three studies were included with a total of 61,809 participants. Between 0.4 and 82.7% of participants agreed with at least one conspiracy belief. Certain sociodemographic factors (young age, female gender, being non-white, lower socioeconomic status), psychological aspects (pessimism, blaming others, anger) and other qualities (political conservatism, religiosity, mistrust in science and using social media as source of information) were associated with increased acceptance of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy beliefs led to harmful health-related behaviours and posed a serious public health threat. Large-scale collaborations between governments and healthcare organizations are needed to curb the spread of conspiracy theories and their adverse consequences.
引用
收藏
相关论文
共 285 条
[1]  
van Prooijen JW(2018)Conspiracy theories: evolved functions and psychological mechanisms Perspect Psychol Sci 13 770-788
[2]  
van Vugt M(2019)Understanding conspiracy theories Polit Psychol 40 3-35
[3]  
Douglas KM(2015)Is belief in conspiracy theories pathological? a survey experiment on the cognitive roots of extreme suspicion Br J Polit Sci 47 113-129
[4]  
Uscinski JE(2020)Conspiracy in the time of corona: automatic detection of emerging COVID-19 conspiracy theories in social media and the news J Comput Soc Sci 3 279-317
[5]  
Sutton RM(2021)SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, and the debunking of conspiracy theories Rev Med Virol 31 e2222-670
[6]  
Cichocka A(2021)Conspiracy theories in the era of COVID-19: a tale of two pandemics Int J Clin Pract 75 e13778-256
[7]  
Nefes T(2020)Conspiracy theories as barriers to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. Soc Sci Med 263 113356-1629
[8]  
Ang CS(2021)A systematic review of narrative interventions: lessons for countering anti-vaccination conspiracy theories and misinformation Public Underst Sci 30 644-856
[9]  
Deravi F(2022)Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review Soc Sci Med 301 114912-629
[10]  
Radnitz S(2022)The role of conspiracy beliefs for COVID-19 health responses: a meta-analysis Curr Opin Psychol 46 101346-263