Study debunks rise of conspiracy theories

It seems like reports on followers of conspiracy theories are a constant feature in the news. The latest one: Alex Jones, a radio host and conspiracy theorist-who said that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of 26 people, including 20 schoolchildren, was a hoax and carried out by actors-was ordered by a Texas jury to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of a child who was killed in the massacre. To the public there seems to be an increase in the number of people who follow these theories. However, the new research article "Have beliefs in conspiracy theories increased over time?” published by University of Miami professors and other colleagues in the journal PLOS One in July debunks that notion. The paper is part of a University of Miami Laboratory for Integrative Knowledge (U-LINK) grant received by a group of University scholars. The funded project was to study the "Extremist Content and Conspiracy Theories in Online Social Networks” and was also supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. "There is a prevailing narrative in the media and among some scholars that we are in a 'golden age' of conspiratorial thinking, that belief in these theories is at unprecedented high levels,” said Casey Klofstad, professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, and one of the researchers in the study.