#772 Joseph Uscinski: The Politics and Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
RECORDED ON APRIL 5th 2023.
Dr. Joseph Uscinski is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He studies public opinion and mass media, with a focus on conspiracy theories and related misinformation. He is co-author of American Conspiracy Theories (Oxford, 2014) and editor of Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them (Oxford, 2018). His textbook on conspiracy theories is Conspiracy Theories: A Primer.
In this episode, we talk about the politics and psychology of conspiracy thinking. We talk about the role of political extremism and partisanship in conspiracy thinking, and how conspiracy theories can be associated with anti-democratic impulses. We discuss partisan and ideological identities versus anti-establishment orientations. We talk about how beliefs about the 2020 election fraud conspiracy theory changed over time. We discuss if exposure to conspiracy theories has any causal power over belief, and if we know how conspiracy theories develop and spread. We also discuss if there are more conspiracy theories today, and the relationship between conspiracy theory beliefs and vaccine hesitancy. Finally, we talk about how worried we should be about conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Time Links:
Intro
What are conspiracy theories?
Political extremism and partisanship
Anti-democratic impulses
Partisan and ideological identities versus anti-establishment orientations
Beliefs about the 2020 election fraud conspiracy theory
Does exposure to conspiracy theories have any causal power over belief?
Do we know how conspiracy theories develop and spread?
Do conspiracy theories form a belief system?
Are there more conspiracy theories today?
A relationship between conspiracy theory beliefs and vaccine hesitancy?
How worried should we be about conspiracy theories and misinformation?
Follow Dr. Uscinski’s work!
Follow Dr. Uscinski’s work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/3C18K1P
Works on ResearchGate: https://bit.ly/3GgZ4Td