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The Impact of Conspiracy Beliefs and Cognitive Style on Online Health Information Seeking

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: We investigated how conspiracy beliefs and cognitive reasoning affect online health information search strategies. In an experiment, 82 participants performed a COVID-19 fact-finding task. Analytic thinking predicted a preference for official sources, whereas conspiracy beliefs predicted distrust in them. However, a debiasing intervention showed no significant impact on search strategies but a conceptual replication of Swami’s et al. 2014 did.

Source: Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19818638

Authors: Vital, Nathan, Chevalier, Aline, Trémolière, Bastien, Dosso, Cheyenne

Institutions: Laboratoire Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse, Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées

Language: English

Topic: Misinformation and Its Impacts

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7155797658

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