Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum.

Colin Klein,Adam G Dunn,Peter Clutton,Mikolaj Morzy

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225098

Colin Klein, Adam G Dunn + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225098

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Nov 18, 2019
Citations: 61	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Australian National University, Macquarie University

Abstract

Many individuals who engage with conspiracy theories come to do so through a combination of individual and social factors. The interaction between these factors is challenging to study using traditional experimental designs. Reddit.com is a large connected set of online discussion forums, including one (r/conspiracy) devoted to wide-ranging discussion of conspiracy theories. The availability of large datasets of user comments from Reddit give a unique opportunity to observe human behavior in social spaces and at scale. Using a retrospective case control study design, we analyzed how Reddit users who would go on to engage with a conspiracy-related forum differed from other users in the language they use, differences in the social environments where they posted, and potential interactions between the two factors. Together, the analyses provide evidence for self-selection into communities with a shared set of interests which can feed into a conspiratorial world-view, and that these differences are detectable relative to controls even before users begin to post in r/conspiracy. We also suggest that survey-based and experimental studies may benefit from differentiating between passive private endorsement by individuals and active engagement with conspiracy theories in social spaces.

Highlights

Conspiracy theories—beliefs attributing agency over important world events to the secret plotting of powerful, malevolent groups—have been common in our population over a sustained period [1,2,3,4,5]
For each high-d Empath factor identified in the language use experiment, and each theme community identified in the social environment experiment, we examined the contrast between language use by control and r/conspiracy users but restricted just to posts made in any of the subreddits in that theme community
In the first two analyses, we identified the personal traits and social factors associated with future engagement with conspiracy beliefs

Summary

Introduction

Conspiracy theories—beliefs attributing agency over important world events to the secret plotting of powerful, malevolent groups—have been common in our population over a sustained period [1,2,3,4,5]. Conspiracy beliefs have the potential to cause harm both to the individual and the community. Conspiracy endorsement is associated with lowered intention to participate in social and political causes [6], unwillingness to follow authoritative medical advice, increased willingness to seek alternative medicine [7,8], and a tendency to reject important scientific findings [9,10]. There are a variety of attitudes individuals might have towards conspiracy theories. Many people passively endorse conspiracy theories, in the sense that they will assent to one or more conspiracy-related beliefs if asked.

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