Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Experiment reveals analytic thinking drives official source preference, while conspiracy beliefs increase distrust in health information sources.
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.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Vital et al. (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: