Reading various posts on Facebook, I’ve found myself wondering “How can they believe such craziness? How do they come up with these ideas?” And to make matters worse, I came across a national survey that found “over half of the American population consistently endorse some kind of conspiratorial narrative about a current political event or phenomenon.”
Clearly this goes well beyond the influence of social media and while it appears in politics all the time, there are lots of conspiracy theories (CTs) attached to Covid, health care, vaccinations, religion and other beliefs. The Internet didn’t invent this, though they’ve certainly helped to fuel it.
We are born to solve mysteries. “Connecting the dots” (CTD) is what humans are wired to do so we can understand our lives and how we live in the world. However, it’s how we “CTD” that can help us make sense of things or lead us in a direction that’s less than helpful.
Reed Berkowitz, the director of Curiouser LLC, a media, fiction and games research group, has written an interesting article and is podcasting A Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon Playing with reality. He describes a virtual reality escape room challenge. Players needed to go through a creepy basement looking for clues. Some people believed that various random objects lying around created an arrow pointing to a wall. Error! The clue was under the floor, but a false interpretation caused the game to be derailed.
This happens all the time with games and is known as “apophenia, “ - “the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas).”
When we are scared, in a state of crisis, fear, uncertainty, or feel powerless we are desperately trying to CTD and can easily end up doing the same thing the gamers did-heading off in the wrong direction.
Conspiracy theories, rumors and other strange narratives abound in times like the one we’re in. Having some explanation is better than none in helping to sooth our fears. It gives us a sense of control. In addition, by having done the research-CTD- people end up become more entrenched in their idea, thereby making it difficult for people to change views.
Keep in mind that research shows that people often buy into conspiracy theories that protect their beliefs as well as groups they belong to and identify with.
Considering all that’s available on-line, this becomes even more complex, when the “puppet masters” get involved. These are the people that “encourage” others to CTD by feeding them specific pieces of data. They are operating using the apophenia model to get you to embrace their way of thinking. This is a similar technique that scammers and charlatans use to lure people into buying miracle cures etc. It’s also what cults do.
Resources to consider: Besides the Berkowitz’s article noted above, check out Why people believe in conspiracy theories with Karen Douglas PhD from the American Psychological Association.
This is a blog about health, so it’s very important that we try to CTD in order to make the most knowledgeable decisions about our care and well-being. And because politics are involved in various aspects of our health care system, who we vote for matters.
CONNECTING THE DOTS so you get accurate information: Whether it’s the people you spend time with, what you read on line, or what Aunt Mary sends in the mail, it’s good to have good “fact checking” tools handy. The American University in Washington D.C. has a review of Fact Checking sites that is very helpful. As much as possible, use nonpartisan, nonprofit sites such Fact Check and Snopes, the originator of busting the urban legends. AllSides, while not a fact-checking site, curates stories from right, center and left-leaning media so that readers can easily compare how bias influences reporting on each topic.
Support groups can be an excellent source of information, yet I’ve seen plenty examples of apophenia, where people grab hold of an idea with not great results. Therefore, do your own checking and discuss things with your medical provider before trying something new, stopping meds etc.
Health Care: Finding Information on-line
• Check the URLs of sites to see what type of ending they have. Websites sponsored by government (.gov), educational institutions (.edu), or credible professional organizations (.org) are more likely to provide unbiased information than commercial websites.
• Be careful when visiting sites that:
- End .com. These are commercial sites that may be promoting a product
- Do not indicate when the site was last updated
- Offer a “miracle cure” that involves purchasing a product
- Will treat you online without seeing you
- Asks for personal information
- Has advertisements. If there are ads they should be separate from health information
• Use sites with relable content. Good sites have:
- Information based on facts, and tell you the source of those facts.
- Information about who they are, how they are funded and how to contact them
- Authors whose expertise is explained
- Information that can also be found at another respected website. Evaluate the strength of the health claims presented. For example, a health claim based on one small study is not as strong as a health claim based on the findings of multiple large scale studies. To learn more about evidence-based research, go to US Cochrane Center (link is external) or e-Source for Behavioral & Social Science Research (link is external).
• Sites to consider
- Medlineline Plus, National Library of Medicine
- NationalInstitutes of Health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Family Doctor (American Academy of Family Physicians)
- Drugs.com Easy to read drug information and useful online tools including a pill identifiers
- Medscape Medical information for specialists, physicians, and industry professionals.
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National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
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National Health Associations and Local Chapters
If it Sounds too Good to be True: Scams, Frauds and Quacks
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