{"id":119457,"date":"2020-11-09T15:01:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T14:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=119457"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:13","slug":"corona-science-if-you-ascribe-intent-to-everything-youre-more-likely-to-believe-in-conspiracy-theories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/11\/09\/corona-science-if-you-ascribe-intent-to-everything-youre-more-likely-to-believe-in-conspiracy-theories\/","title":{"rendered":"Corona science: \u2018If you ascribe intent to everything, you\u2019re more likely to believe in conspiracy theories\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In association with several colleagues and PhD student Arnout Boot, Rolf Zwaan, a Full Professor of Cognitive Psychology, is conducting a study on how people collect, interpret and use information on COVID-19. His study focuses on conspiracy theories. \u201cThis pandemic is a major \u2018we-don\u2019t-understand\u2019 moment for all of us. We\u2019re encountering something none of us have ever experienced before, and we\u2019re inundated with information. How to make sense of everything?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Professor Rolf Zwaan in his home office.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

How relevant is a study on conspiracy theories during a pandemic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cConspiracy theories have been around for hundreds of years, but in this age, what with social media becoming increasingly important, conspiracy theories are increasingly impactful. \u2018Understanding\u2019 something is to create a coherent view, and the way I see it, conspiracy theories are an extreme form of a coherent view. In books and TV shows, things always happen for a reason. Authors and directors show you things that may prove to be meaningful later. But reality doesn\u2019t have an author, so things may happen that have nothing to do with each other and are pure coincidence. \u2018True, true and unrelated,\u2019 doctors say in such cases. But how to explain coincidence? It\u2019s easy to believe that two things are related to each other, such as, for instance, the well-known theory that 5G is being used to spread the coronavirus. We have a tendency to wish to see intention in everything. If someone cuts you off on the motorway, chances are you\u2019ll initially believe that the other person did it on purpose, but in actual fact, that person probably wasn\u2019t paying attention. If you ascribe intent to everything, you\u2019re more likely to believe in conspiracy theories.\u201d<\/p>\n

What exactly does your study entail?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe look at the sources of information people use and their cognitive motivation \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n<\/svg>\n\n\t<\/button>\n<\/span>\n. We then investigate the extent to which this affects the knowledge people acquire on COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working on a book on \u2018understanding\u2019 for quite a while now. When the coronavirus outbreak began, I realised that this was a major \u2018we-don\u2019t-understand\u2019 moment. While I was writing the book, I wondered: how do people acquire information on things such as the coronavirus? After all, there are all sorts of sources of information out there. On the one hand, you have your traditional media, such as de Volkskrant<\/em> and NRC<\/em>, but on the other hand, you have Facebook and Twitter, where people say all sorts of things. What kinds of sources do people use, and what does that tell us about the quality of the knowledge they collect on what the coronavirus is, what it does, and how best to protect yourself from it? And the other question I asked myself was: do certain types of cognitive motivation result in greater knowledge of the coronavirus than other types?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Trust scientists over non-scientists. And with scientists, check whether they have any expertise in that particular field. I, too, can say things about infections. I\u2019m a scientist, but I\u2019m not an expert on that subject.\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Cognitive motivation? Please explain.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPsychologists recognise several types of cognitive motivation. For instance, there\u2019s the need for cognition,<\/em> the degree to which you find it interesting to reflect on things. We expect people with a great need for cognition to try and learn a lot about the coronavirus and end up learning more about the virus, depending on the quality of the sources they use. People who don\u2019t have a great need for cognition are likely to collect less knowledge. Another measure of cognitive motivation is the need for closure. This does not so much relate to the degree to which you enjoy reflecting on things as to the degree you love your view of reality to be coherent. As far as that is concerned, I felt that people with a great need for closure \u2013 in other words, people who like things to be coherent \u2013 are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. After all, these theories offer a coherence that official explanations lack.\u201d<\/p>\n

What kinds of challenges does one encounter when conducting a study during a pandemic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all living in a situation where we have no idea what\u2019s going to happen. Since researchers always seek to make sense of reality, this pandemic is complicating matters, because it\u2019s making reality even harder to understand than it usually is. The theme of my study is one I, too, am struggling with. Whose information can be trusted, and whose information can\u2019t? Who is an actual expert, and who isn\u2019t? In addition, we\u2019ve been forced to conduct our study online. We\u2019re surveying people online, and we actually like that a lot. And we\u2019re not having any difficulty collaborating. We\u2019re still very able to have good meetings and study-related discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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