University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Appl Psychol Health Well Being. 2020 Dec;12(4):1270-1285. doi: 10.1111/aphw.12223. Epub 2020 Aug 30.
Conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID-19 are widespread and have even been propagated by highly ranked state officials and politicians in the US. Health authorities have cautioned that such theories, although not questioning the existence of the pandemic, may increase the spread of the virus by reducing people's efforts to socially distance.
We test this proposition empirically using longitudinal survey data collected at five timepoints during the early outbreak of the virus in the US (N = 403).
Multivariate growth curve analyses showed that, although conspiracy beliefs decreased and social distancing increased over time, people holding more conspiracy beliefs at the beginning of the pandemic showed the lowest increase in social distancing. Moreover, cross-lagged analyses demonstrated that people who reported more conspiracy beliefs at any wave tended to report less social distancing at the following wave.
Our findings show that COVID-19 conspiracy theories pose a significant threat to public health as they may reduce adherence to social distancing measures.
有关 COVID-19 起源的阴谋论广泛存在，甚至被美国高级政府官员和政客传播。卫生当局警告称，这些理论虽然没有质疑大流行的存在，但可能会通过减少人们的社交距离努力来增加病毒的传播。
我们使用在美国病毒爆发初期五个时间点收集的纵向调查数据对这一命题进行了实证检验（N=403）。
多元增长曲线分析表明，尽管阴谋信念随着时间的推移而减少，社交距离随着时间的推移而增加，但在大流行开始时持有更多阴谋信念的人在社交距离上的增加最小。此外，交叉滞后分析表明，在任何一波报告更多阴谋信念的人在下一波报告的社交距离较少。
我们的研究结果表明，COVID-19 阴谋论对公共卫生构成了重大威胁，因为它们可能会降低人们对社交距离措施的遵守程度。
