Articles By

Joseph E. Uscinski

Who knowingly shares false political information online?

Shane Littrell, Casey Klofstad, Amanda Diekman, John Funchion, Manohar Murthi, Kamal Premaratne, Michelle Seelig, Daniel Verdear, Stefan Wuchty and Joseph E. Uscinski

Some people share misinformation accidentally, but others do so knowingly. To fully understand the spread of misinformation online, it is important to analyze those who purposely share it. Using a 2022 U.S. survey, we found that 14 percent of respondents reported knowingly sharing misinformation, and that these respondents were more likely to also report support for political violence, a desire to run for office, and warm feelings toward extremists.

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The different forms of COVID-19 misinformation and their consequences

Adam M. Enders, Joseph E. Uscinski, Casey Klofstad and Justin Stoler

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, an understanding of the structure and organization of beliefs in pandemic conspiracy theories and misinformation becomes increasingly critical for addressing the threat posed by these dubious ideas. In polling Americans about beliefs in 11 such ideas, we observed clear groupings of beliefs that correspond with different individual-level characteristics (e.g.,

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COVID-19

Why do people believe COVID-19 conspiracy theories?

Joseph E. Uscinski, Adam M. Enders, Casey Klofstad, Michelle Seelig, John Funchion, Caleb Everett, Stefan Wuchty, Kamal Premaratne and Manohar Murthi

As conspiracy theories about COVID-19 take root in the United States, understanding the psychological foundations of conspiracy beliefs is increasingly critical. Our research shows that beliefs in two popular variants of COVID-19 conspiracy theory are the joint product of the psychological predispositions 1) to reject information coming from experts and other authority figures and 2) to view major events as the product of conspiracies, as well as partisan and ideological motivations.

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