Priming Resistance to Persuasion decreases adherence to Conspiracy Theories

Eric Bonetto (1) , Jaïs Troian (1) , Florent Varet (1, 2) , Grégory Lo Monaco (1) , Fabien Girandola (1)

1 LPS - Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale
2 IFSTTAR/TS2/LMA - Laboratoire Mécanismes d'Accidents

Research in the field of Resistance to Persuasion (RP) has demonstrated that inoculating individuals with counter arguments is effective for lowering their levels of adherence to conspiracist beliefs (CB). Yet, this strategy is limited because it requires specific arguments tailored against targeted conspiracist narratives. Therefore, we investigated whether priming Resistance to Persuasion would reduce individual adherence to CB among undergraduate student samples. A first study (N = 81) demonstrated that participants primed by filling a RP scale had lower CB scores than control participants. This effect was directly replicated twice (N = 205 and N = 265) and confirmed by a mini meta-analysis (N = 519; d = .20). Practical and theoretical implications are then discussed.

Keywords: Resistance to Persuasion; Priming; Meta-cognition; Conspiracy theories; Inoculation

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences; Psychology

Eric Bonetto, Jaïs Troian, Florent Varet, Grégory Lo Monaco, Fabien Girandola. Priming Resistance to Persuasion decreases adherence to Conspiracy Theories. Social Influence, 2018, 13 (3), pp.125-136. ⟨10.1080/15534510.2018.1471415⟩. ⟨hal-02074237⟩