In spite of the social stigma surrounding them, conspiracy theories are a common topic of public debate on the Internet. The content and tone of these discussions provide a useful insight into the structure of conspiracist belief systems and the psychological characteristics of those who believe and disbelieve in conspiracy theories. In this focused review, we relate patterns of behavior found ...

Conspiracist beliefs are widespread and potentially hazardous. A growing body of research suggests that cognitive biases may play a role in endorsement of conspiracy theories. The current research examines the novel hypothesis that individuals who are biased towards inferring intentional explanations for ambiguous actions are more likely to endorse conspiracy theories, which portray events as t...

We test the hypothesis that knowledge of historically documented, anti-black conspiracies affects perceived plausibility of new, anti-black conspiracies. In Experiment 1 (N = 78), African Americans and European Americans read about a current conspiracy aimed at undermining either African American or European American–elected officials. African Americans perceived the anti-black conspiracy as mo...

This article presents the results of a pilot study on the use of conspiracy beliefs by American Indian (AI) men who have sex with men and their peers to explain the origins of HIV/AIDS. We found that one-third (N = 15) of the individuals surveyed believed that HIV/AIDS was intentionally created by "Whites, White Christians, or the Federal government" and purposely spread among minority populati...

Sustained and coordinated social action is needed to combat the spread of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Health practitioners governments around world have issued recommendations mandates designed reduce transmission COVID-19 by influencing behaviors general public. Why when are some people unwilling take protect themselves others from effects this public health crisis? We find that...

Choice blindness is the experimental finding that people may miss changes to the outcome of their actions. This effect has been demonstrated in decision tasks concerning attractiveness of faces, as well as smell and taste of different consumer products. But so far, choice blindness experiments have only been done in the “physical” world, using real objects like photographs. Here we extend this ...

Dr. Holmes' contribution to the series edited by Professor O'Shea is "an inductive study of backward children. It presents in a series of concrete illustrations," says Dr. Holmes, "studies of cases to exemplify the principles and methods underlying the diagnosis, treatment and training of backward children." His aim has been to describe the cases "simply, non-technically, and humanly." His succ...

If a claimant, C, gives property to the defendant, D, as a result of actual or presumed undue influence over C by another person, X, why is D liable to rescind the gift? A common misconception, given Equity’s ubiquitous concern with conscience, is that D’s liability must be based upon fault and that this will be established if D was aware of the relationship of influence between C and X. 1 Prof...

One day, you will discover a new adventure and knowledge by spending more money. But when? Do you think that you need to obtain those all requirements when having much money? Why don't you try to get something simple at first? That's something that will lead you to know more about the world, adventure, some places, history, entertainment, and more? It is your own time to continue reading habit....

This paper describes three-participant 'give' constructions in ten Papuan languages of the Timor-Alor-Pantar (TAP) family. Generally lacking a class of simple ditransitive root verbs, TAP languages express 'give' events by means of biclausal constructions ('take X then give Y'), serial verb constructions ('take X give Y'), or particle-verb constructions originating in serial verb constructions....