Conspiracist cognition: chaos, convenience, and cause for concern.
There has been much concern with the abundance of misinformation in public discourse. Although misinformation has always played a role in political debate, its character has shifted from support for a specific position to a 'shock and chaos' stream of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Exposure...
| Publicado en: | Journal for Cultural Research Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 12 - 36 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2021
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=149381961&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 149381961 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 14797585 QMJ jtl: Journal for Cultural Research issn: 14797585 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Mar2021 vid: 25 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 149381961 10.1080/14797585.2021.1886423 ppf: 12 ppct: 24 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 871KB tig: atl: Conspiracist cognition: chaos, convenience, and cause for concern. aug: au: Lewandowsky, Stephan affil: School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK School of Psychological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia su: Conspiracy theories Science denialism Cognition Political debates Misinformation sug: subj: Conspiracy theories Science denialism Cognition Political debates Misinformation keyword: conspiracy theories Social construction ab: There has been much concern with the abundance of misinformation in public discourse. Although misinformation has always played a role in political debate, its character has shifted from support for a specific position to a 'shock and chaos' stream of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Exposure to conspiracy theories can have considerable adverse impact on society. I argue that scholars therefore have a responsibility to combat conspiracy theories and misinformation generally. Exercising this responsibility requires an understanding of the varied rhetorical roles of conspiracy theories. Here I focus on instances in which people reject unequivocal scientific evidence and invoke conspiracy theories, or radical anti-institutional positions, based on ideological imperatives. I argue that those positions do not always reflect true attitudes. Instead, people may deploy extreme rhetoric as a pragmatic tool of political expression. I investigate this possibility by focusing on the role of conspiracy theories in the rejection of science. Conspiracist cognition and rhetoric violate the epistemic standards that underpin science. Ironically, this violation of epistemic standards renders conspiracy theories useful as a rationally deployed tool that serves political purposes. I present a study that confirms that conspiracy theories can be deployed to support worldview-motivated denial of science. I provide suggestions how scholars can debunk or defang conspiratorial rhetoric. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal for Cultural Research is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal for Cultural Research holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2021 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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