Social scientists, journalists, and policymakers are increasingly interested in methods to mitigate or reverse the public’s beliefs in conspiracy theories, particularly those associated with negative social consequences, including violence. We contribute to this field of research using an artificial intelligence (AI) intervention that prompts individuals to reflect on the uncertainties in their conspiracy theory beliefs.

The climate lockdown conspiracies claim that a clandestine group of elites are planning to use climate change as a justification to enact widespread lockdowns and curtail freedoms. This conspiracy draws on a wide range of unconnected real-world events and suggests that their possibility of happening again is all the proof required.

The spread of conspiracy theories is expected to have an increasing impact on the vitality of Western democracies and their political culture. Drawing on a 2022 survey from 10 European countries (with n = 20,449), this study uses narratives about immigration and COVID-19 to examine their relation to individual democratic attitudes and preferred forms of political participation.

Recent instances of political violence have prompted concerns over the relationship between conspiracy theory beliefs and violence. Here, we examine the relationships between beliefs in various conspiracy theories and three operationalizations of violence—support for political violence, self-reported engagement in political violence, and engagement in non-political conflict.

Are climate change conspiracy theories widespread across the world, or do we find climate change conspiracy beliefs more so in some countries than in others? This research note explores the prevalence of conspiracy beliefs that identify climate change as a hoax across eight geographically and culturally diverse countries.

Throughout human history, political leaders, oppositional forces, and businesspeople have frequently coordinated in secret for their own benefit and the public’s disadvantage. In these cases, conspiracy theories are capable of accurately describing our environment. However, the vast majority of research today operationalizes conspiracy theories as irrational beliefs that contradict our everyday knowledge.