Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories

2014/09/18 by Viren Swami, Martin Voracek, Stefan Stieger +2 · 753 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cognition #Cognitive psychology #Critical thinking #Epistemology #Fluency #Mathematics education #Media Influence and Health #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Neuropsychology #Population #Psychology #Relation (database) #Social psychology #Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy #Verbal fluency test

paper · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.08.006

published in Cognition 133(3), 572-585 (Elsevier BV)

openalex publication_date 2014/09/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

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• Intellectual Virtue Signaling and (Non)Expert Credibility
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• Overconfidently Conspiratorial: Conspiracy Believers are Dispositionally Overconfident and Massively Overestimate How Much Others Agree With Them
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• Deprived, Radical, Alternatively Informed
• Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
• Addressing Covid-19 Vaccination Conspiracy Theories and Vaccination Intentions
• Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Experimental Evidence for a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention
• The Ideological Turing Test: a behavioural measure of open-mindedness and perspective-taking
• Spite and Science‐Denial: Exploring the Role of Spitefulness in Conspiracy Ideation and COVID‐19 Conspiracy Beliefs
• Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity
• Investigating conspiracy beliefs: methodological biases and experimental challenges
• The epicenter of conspiracy belief: The economically left‐leaning and culturally regressive spot in the political landscape
• Valuing epistemic rationality bolsters the effect of analytic thinking on skepticism toward pseudo-profound bullshit
• The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
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• Testing the impact of fallacies and contrarian claims in climate change misinformation
• Who falls for fake news? Psychological and clinical profiling evidence of fake news consumers
• Measuring Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Validation of a French and English Single-Item Scale
• Maybe a free thinker but not a critical one: High conspiracy belief is associated with low critical thinking ability
• An Existential Threat Model of Conspiracy Theories
• The socio-psychological predictors of support for post-truth collective action
• Don't trust anybody: Conspiracy mentality and the detection of facial trustworthiness cues
• Someone is pulling the strings: hypersensitive agency detection and belief in conspiracy theories
• The Paranoid Style in American Politics Revisited: An Ideological Asymmetry in Conspiratorial Thinking
• Strain en jeugddelinquentie. Een dynamische relatie
• The relationship between schizotypal facets and conspiracist beliefs via cognitive processes
• A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Psychological Research on Conspiracy Beliefs: Field Characteristics, Measurement Instruments, and Associations With Personality Traits
• Medical conspiracy theories: cognitive science and implications for ethics
• Mistrust and misinformation: A two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories
• Fake news, fast and slow: Deliberation reduces belief in false (but not true) news headlines.
• Why are conspiracy theories more successful in some countries than in others? An exploratory study on Internet users from 22 Western and non-Western countries
• Debunking with Dialogue? Exploring AI-Generated Counterspeech to Challenge Conspiracy Theories
• Psychology of climate change denial [wikipedia]
• Going against the Herd: Psychological and Cultural Factors Underlying the 'Vaccination Confidence Gap'. [europepmc]
• Why Education Predicts Decreased Belief in Conspiracy Theories. [europepmc]
• An examination of the factorial and convergent validity of four measures of conspiracist ideation, with recommendations for researchers. [europepmc]
• Beyond "Monologicality"? Exploring Conspiracist Worldviews. [europepmc]
• Epistemic beliefs' role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation. [europepmc]
• Conspiracy Theories: Evolved Functions and Psychological Mechanisms. [europepmc]
• Belief in conspiracy theories: Basic principles of an emerging research domain. [europepmc]
• A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Psychological Research on Conspiracy Beliefs: Field Characteristics, Measurement Instruments, and Associations With Personality Traits. [europepmc]
• Belief in conspiracy theories: The predictive role of schizotypy, Machiavellianism, and primary psychopathy. [europepmc]
• Coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, mistrust, and compliance with government guidelines in England. [europepmc]
• COVID-19-related conspiracy beliefs and their relationship with perceived stress and pre-existing conspiracy beliefs. [europepmc]
• Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Experimental Evidence for a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention. [europepmc]
• Conspiracy Beliefs Are Associated with Lower Knowledge and Higher Anxiety Levels Regarding COVID-19 among Students at the University of Jordan. [europepmc]
• Psychological correlates of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures: Evidence from Turkey. [europepmc]
• Reliance on emotion promotes belief in fake news. [europepmc]
• Thinking Preferences and Conspiracy Belief: Intuitive Thinking and the Jumping to Conclusions-Bias as a Basis for the Belief in Conspiracy Theories. [europepmc]
• Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world. [europepmc]
• Searching for General Model of Conspiracy Theories and Its Implication for Public Health Policy: Analysis of the Impacts of Political, Psychological, Structural Factors on Conspiracy Beliefs about the COVID-19 Pandemic. [europepmc]
• Patterns of Media Use, Strength of Belief in COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories, and the Prevention of COVID-19 From March to July 2020 in the United States: Survey Study. [europepmc]
• Beliefs About COVID-19 in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: A Novel Test of Political Polarization and Motivated Reasoning. [europepmc]
• COVID-19 Scientific Facts vs. Conspiracy Theories: Is Science Failing to Pass Its Message? [europepmc]
• Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model. [europepmc]
• Misbehaving in the Corona crisis: The role of anxiety and unfounded beliefs. [europepmc]
• Is It All a Conspiracy? Conspiracy Theories and People's Attitude to COVID-19 Vaccination. [europepmc]
• Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review. [europepmc]