scholarly journals Collective narcissism predicts the belief and dissemination of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anni Sternisko ◽  
Aleksandra Cichocka ◽  
Aleksandra Cislak ◽  
Jay Joseph Van Bavel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
National Surveys ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
Health Related Behaviors ◽  
Health Related

While COVID-19 was quietly spreading across the globe, conspiracy theories were finding loud voices on the internet. What contributes to the spread of these theories? In two national surveys (NTotal = 950) conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, we identified national narcissism – a belief in the greatness of one’s nation that others do not appreciate – as a risk factor for the spread of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that national narcissism was strongly associated with the proneness to believe and disseminate conspiracy theories related to COVID-19, accounting for up to 22% of the variance. Further, we found preliminary evidence that belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and national narcissism was linked to health-related behaviors and attitudes towards public policies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Our study expands previous work by illustrating the importance of identity processes in the spread of conspiracy theories during pandemics.

scholarly journals Social Media and Men’s Health: A Content Analysis of Twitter Conversations During the 2013 Movember Campaigns in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1627-1641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline A. Bravo ◽  
Laurie Hoffman-Goetz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Men’S Health ◽  
Men's Health ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Health Related

The Movember Foundation raises awareness and funds for men’s health issues such as prostate and testicular cancers in conjunction with a moustache contest. The 2013 Movember campaigns in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom shared the same goal of creating conversations about men’s health that lead to increased awareness and understanding of the health risks men face. Our objective was to explore Twitter conversations to identify whether the 2013 Movember campaigns sparked global conversations about prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and other men’s health issues. We conducted a content analysis of 12,666 tweets posted during the 2013 Movember campaigns in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom (4,222 tweets from each country) to investigate whether tweets were health-related or non-health-related and to determine what topics dominated conversations. Few tweets ( n = 84, 0.7% of 12,666 tweets) provided content-rich or actionable health information that would lead to awareness and understanding of men’s health risks. While moustache growing and grooming was the most popular topic in U.S. tweets, conversations about community engagement were most common in Canadian and U.K. tweets. Significantly more tweets co-opted the Movember campaign to market products or contests in the United States than Canada and the United Kingdom ( p < .05). Findings from this content analysis of Twitter suggest that the 2013 Movember campaigns in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom sparked few conversations about prostate and testicular cancers that could potentially lead to greater awareness and understanding of important men’s health issues.

Commercialization of Journalism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Kvalheim ◽  
Jens Barland
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
21St Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Penny Press ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Modern Sense

Commercialization of journalism is not a new concern. Indeed, journalism has always been bought and sold in the market, and commercialization has thus always been a central part of the production of journalism. In a modern sense, however, commercialization became an issue with the emergence of the penny press in the United States and the abolishment of the “taxes on knowledge” in the United Kingdom. These developments altered the content of newspapers and brought along discussions concerning the effects of commercialization. In the late 20th and early 21st century, commercialization of journalism again took a new turn. Developments such as digitalization and the emergence and communization of the internet, has led to an increased attention to market logics. This, in turn, makes studies of the commercialization of journalism increasingly more important.

Key National Factors in the Emergence of Computational Chemistry Firms

1997 ◽  
Vol 01 (04) ◽  
pp. 355-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surya Mahdi ◽  
Keith Pavitt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Computational Chemistry ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Public Research ◽  
Domestic Markets ◽  
New Science ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Research Institutes

Using information compiled from the Internet, we find that the number of computational chemistry firms in each of the 10 OECD countries (The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden and Australia) is: (i) strongly correlated with the country's strength in computational chemistry science and with the extent of the national scientific networks; (ii) is weakly correlated with the size of the domestic markets; and (iii) not correlated with the extent of the infrastructure as measured by the number of supercomputers installed. These results show that the emergence of firms based on new science depends heavily on the strength of universities and public research institutes in the underlying sciences. This is particularly true for the leading country — the United States.

scholarly journals Heartburn-Related Internet Searches and Trends of Interest across Six Western Countries: A Four-Year Retrospective Analysis Using Google Ads Keyword Planner

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (23) ◽  
pp. 4591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamiński ◽  
Łoniewski ◽  
Misera ◽  
Marlicz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Seasonal Pattern ◽  
The United States ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Related Information ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Internet Searches

The internet is becoming the main source of health-related information. We aimed to investigate data regarding heartburn-related searches made by Google users from Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We retrospectively analyzed data from Google Ads Keywords Planner. We extracted search volumes of keywords associated with “heartburn” for June 2015 to May 2019. The data were generated in the respective primary language. The number of searches per 1,000 Google-user years was as follows: 177.4 (Australia), 178.1 (Canada), 123.8 (Germany), 199.7 (Poland), 152.5 (United Kingdom), and 194.5 (United States). The users were particularly interested in treatment (19.0 to 41.3%), diet (4.8 to 10.7%), symptoms (2.6 to 13.1%), and causes (3.7 to 10.0%). In all countries except Germany, the number of heartburn-related queries significantly increased over the analyzed period. For Canada, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom, query numbers were significantly lowest in summer; there was no significant seasonal trend for Australia and the United States. The number of heartburn-related queries has increased over the past four years, and a seasonal pattern may exist in certain regions. The trends in heartburn-related searches may reflect the scale of the complaint, and should be verified through future epidemiological studies.

scholarly journals Health-Related Behaviors of Women Physicians vs Other Women in the United States

1998 ◽  
Vol 158 (4) ◽  
pp. 342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Frank ◽  
Donna J. Brogan ◽  
Ali H. Mokdad ◽  
Eduardo J. Simoes ◽  
Henry S. Kahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Women Physicians ◽  
Health Related Behaviors ◽  
Health Related

scholarly journals National Narcissism predicts the Belief in and the Dissemination of Conspiracy Theories During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From 56 Countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 014616722110549
Author(s):  
Anni Sternisko ◽  
Aleksandra Cichocka ◽  
Aleksandra Cislak ◽  
Jay J. Van Bavel
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
World Health ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
National Surveys ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Health Organization

Conspiracy theories related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have propagated around the globe, leading the World Health Organization to declare the spread of misinformation an “Infodemic.” We tested the hypothesis that national narcissism—a belief in the greatness of one’s nation that requires external recognition—is associated with the spread of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic. In two large-scale national surveys ( NTotal = 950) conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, and secondary analysis of data from 56 countries ( N = 50,757), we found a robust, positive relationship between national narcissism and proneness to believe and disseminate conspiracy theories related to COVID-19. Furthermore, belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories was related to less engagement in health behaviors and less support for public-health policies to combat COVID-19. Our findings illustrate the importance of social identity factors in the spread of conspiracy theories and provide insights into the psychological processes underlying the COVID-19 pandemic.

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