Psychology

Leveraging artificial intelligence to identify the psychological factors associated with conspiracy theory beliefs online

J. R. Kunst, A. B. Gundersen, et al.

This fascinating study explores the psychological factors behind the proliferation of conspiracy theories on social media. By analyzing data from over 2,500 Twitter users and 7.7 million interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the research by Jonas R. Kunst and colleagues identifies key risk factors such as age and political extremism, shedding light on how misinformation spreads online.

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Abstract

This study investigates the psychological factors associated with the spread of conspiracy theories online. It combines self-reported psychological data from 2506 US-based Twitter (currently X) users with machine learning analysis of their 7.7 million social media engagements during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis reveals that older age, extreme political views (both far-left and far-right), and a tendency to believe false information are consistent risk factors. Denialist tendencies and confidence in spotting misinformation were also positively associated with support for certain conspiracy theories. The study highlights the effectiveness of combining AI analysis of large behavioral datasets with self-report surveys in identifying risk factors for online phenomena.

Publisher

Nature Communications

Published On

Aug 29, 2024

Authors

Jonas R. Kunst, Aleksander B. Gundersen, Izabela Krysińska, Jan Piasecki, Tomi Wójtowicz, Rafal Rygula, Sander van der Linden, Mikolaj Morzy

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