Below you can see studies, data or specialists opinion suggesting what can we do to stop conspiracy theories propagation
We discuss the implication of the findings for community-wide belief dynamics and we propose that social inclusion could be used to diminish the dissemination of superstitious beliefs and conspiracy theories.
Date: 2016
Combining these findings suggests that conspiracy exposure increases conspiracy beliefs and reduces trust, but that asking about beliefs prompts additional thinking about the claims which softens and/or reverses the exposure’s effect on beliefs and trust.
Date: 2014
It has been noted that individuals who endorse conspiracy theories are likely to be higher in powerlessness, social isolation, and ‘anomia,’ which is broadly defined as a subjective disengagement from social norms.
Date: 2016
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886916303221
The results showed that the more lonely people felt, the more they believed in both the conspiracies and in the idea of the supernatural.
In recent years it’s been suggested that stress plays its part in leading people to fringe beliefs, too. Professor Viren Swami, from Anglia Ruskin University, performed studies in 2016 that took 400 participants between 20 and 78 and asked whether they believed the 1969 moon landings had been faked.
Professor Swami also polled subjects as to whether they believed that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated by the American government. He then assessed subjects’ stress levels—most significantly, stressful situations that might have occurred within their lives in the last six months.
The results showed that the more stressed a person was, the more likely they were to believe in conspiracy.
“Stressful situations increase the tendency to think less analytically,” says Professor Swami. “An individual experiencing a stressful life event may begin to engage in a particular way of thinking, such as seeing patterns that don’t exist.”
“In the aftermath of distressing events,” he continued, “it is possible that some individuals may seek out conspiracist explanations that reinstall a sense of order or control.”
One of the most significant of these, reported by Psychology Today in April 2017, involved mining data from one of the largest surveys of mental health ever carried out: the US National Comorbidity Survey-Replication conducted between 2001 and 2003.
Subjects were asked the consider the statement; “I’m convinced there’s a conspiracy behind many things in the world.” More than a quarter of subjects believed that to be true.
Digging into the data, there were a number of commonalities. Those who agreed with that statement tended to be male, unmarried, with above-average levels of social disadvantages, such as having relatively low income and education levels. They were more likely to be from an ethnic minority. They were more likely to carry a weapon. And they tended to report lower levels of physical and psychological wellbeing. Many had considered suicide.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15297905/
Source: https://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/wmh/publishedpaper_kessler_design.pdf
Finally, we found that once people have been exposed to conspiracy theories, the negative effects are difficult to attenuate.
Date: 2015