What was the misinformation effect of conspiracy speculations during COVID-19 pandemic?
Study showed, when only 4.6% of population believed coronavirus was of a natural origin, irrational, denying and hesitant health behavior spread widely across nation.
Read Article Health behavior in Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic
Dear Dr. Peshkovskaya!
You raised a relevant point. Please let me argue that one cannot evaluate the overall impact of misinformation on conspiracy speculations for the following reasons in the context of systems thinking:
1) Misinformation is a "virus" itself that mutates: Muppidi, S.R. (2023). Exploring a Vaccine for the Misinformation Virus in a Global Pandemic: Media Literacy, COVID, and Science Communication. In: Pachauri, S., Pachauri, A. (eds) Global Perspectives of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health, Education, and Role of Media. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1106-6_15, Open access: Chapter Exploring a Vaccine for the Misinformation Virus in a Global...
2) Conspiracy speculations are the product of fear that is highly case - and context-dependent: Khalaf, M.A., Shehata, A.M. Trust in information sources as a moderator of the impact of COVID-19 anxiety and exposure to information on conspiracy thinking and misinformation beliefs: a multilevel study. BMC Psychol 11, 375 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01425-7, Open access: Article Trust in information sources as a moderator of the impact of...
3) Both misinformation and conspiracy must be eliminated when it comes to science and healthcare delivery. Since there is a war in cyberspace nobody knows the real up-to-date situation. Certain criminal teams are constantly on the move causing fear and confusion. These teams ultimately aim to create chaos.
Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely
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