Events 2021/2022

Cognitive Arrest in Conspiracism

About

Information is a virtue. This assumption has been shaken, however, with the paradox in which a greater amount of information causes greater epistemic incapability among lay publics. In particular, public conspiracism has arisen as a social problem. Conspiratorial publics and their growing epistemic conviction of invalid conclusions result in social schisms, distrust, and doubt in legitimate social processes, all of which incur costs and risks to society. In this talk, I explain conspiratorial publics and the emerging processes of cognitive arrest and epistemic inertia in the digital age and changing information environment. I also discuss the relative effectiveness of counter strategies for lay publics arrested in conspiracism.