Real conspiracies happen every day. Unfortunately, real conspiracies tend not to be anywhere near as interesting as conspiracy theorists’ beliefs. Instead of alien reptile pedophiles, you end up with pay-for-play schemes, cronyism, and unlawful political donations. Are those conspiracies? Yes. Are they interesting? Not really. No one is spreading misinformation by espousing belief in Watergate. Perhaps this is why it seems the crazier the conspiracy theory, the more attention it seems to get.

The role of “fake news,” conspiracy theories, infotainment, and more has been written about extensively. But it is becoming more apparent that many lack the mental immune system necessary to avoid believing obvious lies. As part of an ongoing effort to understand the problem, the Reboot Foundation conducts an annual online survey of U.S. adults to gauge the state of science literacy in this country. As you may imagine, those who espouse conspiracy theories generally fare poorly on this survey.

In its newest report, “Science Fictions: Low Science Knowledge and Poor Critical Thinking Are Linked to Conspiracy Beliefs,” the Reboot Foundation looks at belief in conspiracy theories in conjunction with the science literacy and critical thinking skills of their survey’s respondents. They tested science literacy by quizzing respondents on basic science concepts, such as “True or False, the Earth is a sphere.” A full quarter of people who answered the survey espoused the belief that “COVID-19 is a biological weapon released intentionally by China,” and 22 percent believe “the trails left in the sky by highflying aircraft are actually toxic chemicals.” Fifteen percent believe that “climate change was a conspiracy by the left to hurt the economy.” Such beliefs were heavily correlated with a lack of basic science literacy: 

Those who scored higher on Reboot’s science literacy quiz were nearly 40 percent less likely to believe in one of the conspiracy theories we tested. Participants who reported having studied critical thinking activities and media literacy while in school were 26 percent less likely to believe in a conspiracy. But those participants who self-identified as being “critical thinkers” who lacked formal training? They were 63 percent more likely to believe in conspiracies. [emphasis added]<<END

Clearly just calling oneself a critical thinker doesn’t make it so. 

In many of these cases, it is specifically scientific knowledge that is being questioned by conspiracy theorists. While scientists question scientific knowledge all the time, their standards for proof are obviously much higher. When internet celebrities hear that their pet theory has been considered and dismissed by the prevailing researchers, the conspiracist celebrity has to position their beliefs as being under attack by the establishment. This ends up providing the celebrity and their followers with cohesion and an enemy to rally around. It also gives them a sense of purpose, meaning, and identity. 

However, as previously stated, the Reboot Foundation has shown that exposure to critical thinking in school and better science literacy render people less likely to believe conspiracies. The Reboot Foundation advocates for basic media literacy and critical thinking skills while broadly making science more accessible to the general public. Lastly, the Reboot Foundation cautions that the system of incentives employed by social media companies is contributing to the polarization and subjectivization of information. For more on the Reboot Foundation, see the interview with the Reboot Foundation’s founder, Helen Lee Bouygues, in the September/October 2022 SI.