scholarly journals Mistrust and misinformation: A two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 617-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Pierre

Although conspiracy theories are endorsed by about half the population and occasionally turn out to be true, they are more typically false beliefs that, by definition, have a paranoid theme. Consequently, psychological research to date has focused on determining whether there are traits that account for belief in conspiracy theories (BCT) within a deficit model. Alternatively, a two-component, socio-epistemic model of BCT is proposed that seeks to account for the ubiquity of conspiracy theories, their variance along a continuum, and the inconsistency of research findings likening them to psychopathology. Within this model, epistemic mistrust is the core component underlying conspiracist ideation that manifests as the rejection of authoritative information, focuses the specificity of conspiracy theory beliefs, and can sometimes be understood as a sociocultural response to breaches of trust, inequities of power, and existing racial prejudices. Once voices of authority are negated due to mistrust, the resulting epistemic vacuum can send individuals “down the rabbit hole” looking for answers where they are vulnerable to the biased processing of information and misinformation within an increasingly “post-truth” world. The two-component, socio-epistemic model of BCT argues for mitigation strategies that address both mistrust and misinformation processing, with interventions for individuals, institutions of authority, and society as a whole.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Pierre

Although conspiracy theories are endorsed by about half the population and occasionally turn out to be true, they are more typically false beliefs that, by definition, have a paranoid theme. Consequently, psychological research to date has focused on determining whether there are traits that account for belief in conspiracy theories (BCT) within a deficit model. Alternatively, a two-component, socio-epistemic model of BCT is proposed that seeks to account for the ubiquity of conspiracy theories, their variance along a continuum, and the inconsistency of research findings likening them to psychopathology. Within this model, epistemic mistrust is the core component underlying conspiracist ideation that manifests as the rejection of authoritative information, focuses the specificity of conspiracy theory beliefs, and can sometimes be understood as a sociocultural response to breaches of trust, inequities of power, and existing racial prejudices. Once voices of authority are negated due to mistrust, the resulting epistemic vacuum can send individuals “down the rabbit hole” looking for answers where they are vulnerable to the biased processing of information and misinformation within an increasingly “post-truth” world. The two-component, socio-epistemic model of BCT argues for mitigation strategies that address both mistrust and misinformation processing, with interventions for individuals, institutions of authority, and society as a whole.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Proctor

Alexander Luria played a prominent role in the psychoanalytic community that flourished briefly in Soviet Russia in the decade following the 1917 October Revolution. In 1925 he co-wrote an introduction to Sigmund Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle with Lev Vygotsky, which argued that the conservatism of the instincts that Freud described might be overcome through the kind of radical social transformation then taking place in Russia. In attempting to bypass the backward looking aspects of Freud's theory, however, Luria and Vygotsky also did away with the tension between Eros and the death drive; precisely the element of Freud's essay they praised for being ‘dialectical’. This article theoretically unpicks Luria and Vygotsky's critique of psychoanalysis. It concludes by considering their optimistic ideological argument against the death drive with Luria's contemporaneous psychological research findings, proposing that Freud's ostensibly conservative theory may not have been as antithetical to revolutionary goals as Luria and Vygotsky assumed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Kłos ◽  
J. Paturej

AbstractLangevin dynamics simulations are utilized to study the structure of a dendritic polyelectrolyte embedded in two component mixtures comprised of conventional (small) and bulky counterions. We vary two parameters that trigger conformational properties of the dendrimer: the reduced Bjerrum length, $$\lambda _B^*$$ λ B ∗ , which controls the strength of electrostatic interactions and the number fraction of the bulky counterions, $$f_b$$ f b , which impacts on their steric repulsion. We find that the interplay between the electrostatic and the counterion excluded volume interactions affects the swelling behavior of the molecule. As compared to its neutral counterpart, for weak electrostatic couplings the charged dendrimer exists in swollen conformations whose size remains unaffected by $$f_b$$ f b . For intermediate couplings, the absorption of counterions into the pervaded volume of the dendrimer starts to influence its conformation. Here, the swelling factor exhibits a maximum which can be shifted by increasing $$f_b$$ f b . For strong electrostatic couplings the dendrimer deswells correspondingly to $$f_b$$ f b . In this regime a spatial separation of the counterions into core–shell microstructures is observed. The core of the dendrimer cage is preferentially occupied by the conventional ions, whereas its periphery contains the bulky counterions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory P. Strauss ◽  
Lisa A. Bartolomeo ◽  
Philip D. Harvey

AbstractNegative symptoms have long been considered a core component of schizophrenia. Modern conceptualizations of the structure of negative symptoms posit that there are at least two broad dimensions (motivation and pleasure and diminished expression) or perhaps five separable domains (avolition, anhedonia, asociality, blunted affect, alogia). The current review synthesizes a body of emerging research indicating that avolition may have a special place among these dimensions, as it is generally associated with poorer outcomes and may have distinct neurobiological mechanisms. Network analytic findings also indicate that avolition is highly central and interconnected with the other negative symptom domains in schizophrenia, and successfully remediating avolition results in global improvement in the entire constellation of negative symptoms. Avolition may therefore reflect the most critical treatment target within the negative symptom construct. Implications for targeted treatment development and clinical trial design are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasiia Samsonova ◽  
Krystel El Hage ◽  
Bénédicte Desforges ◽  
Vandana Joshi ◽  
Marie-Jeanne Clément ◽  
...  

AbstractThe RNA-binding protein Lin28 (Lin28a) is an important pluripotency factor that reprograms translation and promotes cancer progression. Although Lin28 blocks let-7 microRNA maturation, Lin28 also binds to a large set of cytoplasmic mRNAs directly. However, how Lin28 regulates the processing of many mRNAs to reprogram global translation remains unknown. We show here, using a structural and cellular approach, a mixing of Lin28 with YB-1 (YBX1) in the presence of mRNA owing to their cold-shock domain, a conserved β-barrel structure that binds to ssRNA cooperatively. In contrast, the other RNA binding-proteins without cold-shock domains tested, HuR, G3BP-1, FUS and LARP-6, did not mix with YB-1. Given that YB-1 is the core component of dormant mRNPs, a model in which Lin28 gains access to mRNPs through its co-association with YB-1 to mRNA may provide a means for Lin28 to reprogram translation. We anticipate that the translational plasticity provided by mRNPs may contribute to Lin28 functions in development and adaptation of cancer cells to an adverse environment.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Celi ◽  
Gianfranco Gabai ◽  
Massimo Morgante ◽  
Luigi Gallo

Dairy science is a multidisciplinary area of scientific investigation and Ph.D. students aiming to do research in the field of animal and/or veterinary sciences must be aware of this. Ph.D. students often have vast spectra of research interests, and it is quite challenging to satisfy the expectation of all of them. The aim of this study was to establish an international Ph.D. training program based on research collaboration between the University of Sydney and the University of Padova. The core component of this program was a two-week Postgraduate Summer School in Dairy Science, which was held at the University of Padova, for Ph.D. students of both universities. Therefore, we designed a program that encompassed seminars, workshops, laboratory practical sessions, and farm visits. Participants were surveyed using a written questionnaire. Overall, participants have uniformly praised the Summer School calling it a rewarding and valuable learning experience. The Ph.D. Summer School in Dairy Science provided its participants a positive learning experience, provided them the opportunity to establish an international network, and facilitated the development of transferable skills.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ubaidullah Alias Kashif ◽  
Zulfiqar Ali Memon ◽  
Shafaq Siddiqui ◽  
Abdul Rasheed Balouch ◽  
Rakhi Batra

This article describes how the enormous potential benefits provided by the cloud services, made enterprises to show huge interest in adopting cloud computing. As the service provider has control over the entire data of an organization stored onto the cloud, a malicious activity, whether internal or external can tamper with the data and computation. This causes enterprises to lack trust in adopting services due to privacy, security and trust issues. Despite of having such issues, the consumer has no root level access right to secure and check the integrity of procured resources. To establish a trust between the consumer and the provider, it is desirable to let the consumer to check the procured platform hosted at provider side for safety and security. This article proposes an architectural design of a trusted platform for the IaaS cloud computing by the means of which the consumer can check the integrity of a guest platform. TCG's TPM is deployed and used on the consumer side as the core component of the proposed architecture and it is distributed between the service provider and the consumer.


2017 ◽  
Vol 216 (10) ◽  
pp. 3061-3071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren M. Kraft ◽  
Laura L. Lackner

Interorganelle contacts facilitate communication between organelles and impact fundamental cellular functions. In this study, we examine the assembly of the MECA (mitochondria–endoplasmic reticulum [ER]–cortex anchor), which tethers mitochondria to the ER and plasma membrane. We find that the assembly of Num1, the core component of MECA, requires mitochondria. Once assembled, Num1 clusters persistently anchor mitochondria to the cell cortex. Num1 clusters also function to anchor dynein to the plasma membrane, where dynein captures and walks along astral microtubules to help orient the mitotic spindle. We find that dynein is anchored by Num1 clusters that have been assembled by mitochondria. When mitochondrial inheritance is inhibited, Num1 clusters are not assembled in the bud, and defects in dynein-mediated spindle positioning are observed. The mitochondria-dependent assembly of a dual-function cortical anchor provides a mechanism to integrate the positioning and inheritance of the two essential organelles and expands the function of organelle contact sites.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 220-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Andriukaitienė ◽  
Valentyna Voronkova ◽  
Olga Kyvliuk ◽  
Marina Maksimenyuk ◽  
Aita Sakun

The relevance of the topic is defined through the idea that appropriate leadership competencies and their application in certain activities enabling the followers can ensure the prospects of organizational development and individual career opportunities. To review and summarize the aspects of research findings of leadership science in expression of competencies in managerial processes, highlighting the leadership competencies in the context of general competencies. Methods. In order to formulate analytical findings describing the concept of leadership, generalizing the stages of development of theories, expression of leadership competencies and impact, there were used the methods of scientific literature analysis and synthesis as well as simulation. Results. According to the scientists insights, the article deals with leadership concept analysis, leadership research overview according to development stages. Scientific novelty. The analyzed theme has a scientific novelty, because recently there has been more and more discussion about the importance of leadership, but it is important to analyze the core leadership competencies that would predetermine both the findings of decisions of organizations’ managerial processes and positive changes of individual career in the integration in the activities of organizations. Practical significance. The need in leadership competencies is related to the issues of good leadership in organizations. Aiming to implement ideas of modern leadership in organisations, the leader has to have certain characteristics of leadership expressions, such as ability to communicate effectively, respond to the needs of others, and influence the behavior of the followers directing them towards the achieving of the set goals and implementation of the leader’s vision.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document