Professor Karen Douglas, Professor of Social Psychology, and Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Psychology has taken part in a podcast about how recent current affairs events, particularly in The States, have provided the conditions for conspiracy theories to appear and take hold -from Q Anon, to theories about Corona virus and the vaccine.
‘Speaking of Psychology’ is an audio podcast series produced by the American Psychological Association highlighting some of the latest relevant psychological research being conducted, with an aim of reaching mainstream listeners so they can apply psychological research to their everyday lives:
“This past year, COVID-19 and the U.S. elections have provided fertile ground for conspiracy theories—with sometimes disastrous consequences. Karen Douglas, PhD, of the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, discusses psychological research on how conspiracy theories start, why they persist, who is most likely to believe them and whether there is any way to combat them effectively.”
Douglas told them:
“It is definitely the case that the conspiracy theories have ways been with us. Believing in conspiracy theories and being suspicious about the actions of others is in some ways quite an adaptive thing to do. We don’t necessarily want to trust everybody and trust everything that’s happening around us. And so, I guess you could call everybody a conspiracy theorist if you want to use that term at one point or another.”
Listen here.