Author Archives: Daniel Jolley

Anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and their potential impact on children’s health

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Daniel Jolley

The Los Angeles Times recently published a piece titled: “Measles is spreading, and the anti-vaccine movement is the cause”, and as you can imagine, this caught my attention. Recently, I have had an empirical paper published in the open-access journal … Continue reading →

Posted in Social psychology, What's the harm | 40 Comments

Should conspiracy theory research inform public policy?

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Daniel Jolley

Princess Diana was murdered by the Royal Family.  The U.S. government orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Pharmaceutical companies cover up evidence of harmful side effects of vaccines.  Each statement is a ‘conspiracy theory’; defined as a proposed plot by powerful … Continue reading →

Posted in Social psychology | Tagged | 229 Comments

PsyPAG Quarterly special issue: The psychology of conspiracy theories

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Daniel Jolley

The PsyPAG Quarterly is a publication which is distributed free of charge to all psychology postgraduates in the UK. As an editor of this publication, for the September ’13 edition, I put together a special issue on the psychology of … Continue reading →

Posted in Social psychology | 29 Comments

Childhood vaccinations: What is the role of conspiracy theorising?

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Daniel Jolley

On Wednesday 26th June 2013, I attended a thought-provoking symposium where international experts in psychology, anthropology and communication sciences came together to describe current trends in public attitudes towards childhood vaccination. The symposium accurately titled ‘Public engagement and risk communication … Continue reading →

Posted in Events, Social psychology | 5 Comments

“The Great Green Con”: Pro-conspiracy information within the media

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Daniel Jolley

This morning I came across a news article that read so similar to my pro-conspiracy manipulation used within a recent paper, it was quite unnerving. I have spoken about this paper before on this blog, where it was shown that exposure … Continue reading →

Posted in Social psychology, What's the harm | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Conspiracy beliefs and TV licences: ‘Turning off’ engagement

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Daniel Jolley

As blogged about previously, conspiracy theories are influential and exposure to such theories can influence both beliefs and behavioural intentions in a variety of domains. However, a recent news story caught my attention, as it clearly demonstrated a sense of detachment with … Continue reading →

Posted in 9/11, Social psychology, What's the harm | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

The psychology of conspiracy theories: CSRfm’s brain bites podcast, with Dan Jolley & Mike Wood

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Daniel Jolley

On Tuesday 11th December 2012, Mike and I recorded a radio interview for CSRfm‘s Brain Bites show, based on the psychology of conspiracy theories. You can listen to the podcast of the show here:

Posted in Events | Tagged , | 6 Comments

The influence of conspiracy information: Beliefs & Intentions

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Daniel Jolley

Conspiracy theories are influential. Empirical work, both of my own and other scholars have indeed shown that this is the case. Whilst watching “Did we land on the moon” on channel 5 last night, I therefore wondered what influence this … Continue reading →

Posted in Events, Social psychology | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments

HIV/AIDS conspiracies and their consequences

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Daniel Jolley

As we all know, conspiracy theories are a popular topic. Ask anyone, I’m sure they will have some sort of opinion (pro-conspiracy, or anti) on the topic. And, this is exactly the reason why conspiracies need to be studied, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, What's the harm | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Dan’s consequences welcome

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Daniel Jolley

As this is my first blog post on here, I thought I best start by introducing myself properly. I’m Dan, based at the University of Kent, going into the second-year of my PhD. My research is based around the psychology … Continue reading →

Posted in Social psychology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment