Conspiracy Beliefs and Consumption: The Role of Scientific Literacy
研究发现科学素养能削弱人们对阴谋论的信念及相关行为，通过科学知识和推理能力准确评估阴谋证据，对消费者、企业和政府有启示。
Abstract Conspiracy theories pose risks to consumers, businesses, and society. The present research investigates the role of scientific literacy in a variety of conspiracy beliefs with implications for consumer well-being and sustainability (e.g., regarding coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19], genetically modified organisms, and climate change). In contrast to the mixed effects of education in prior work, we find that scientific literacy undermines conspiracy beliefs and, in turn, conspiracy-related behaviors. This finding is explained by people’s ability to use two dimensions of scientific literacy—scientific knowledge and reasoning—to accurately assess conspiracy evidence. For robustness, we assess scientific literacy through both measurement and manipulation (i.e., interventions), identify two moderators (evidence strength and narration) that attenuate the effect, and further validate our theorizing using national and international datasets (regarding COVID-19 vaccination and Google search, respectively). We discuss the implications of our findings for consumers, companies, nonprofit organizations, and governments.