John Kerr

This is a nice write-up of our recent paper by PsyPost, with clear info about limitations and small effect sizes.

I would like to clarify that I am not in fact the person in the photo, though

doi.org/10.1002/ejsp...

Thanks for your interest in the article, and I'm sorry it didn't address the points that you wanted it to. The underlying article was about comparing *broad strategic approaches* among island nations.

'A tendency to feel victimized predicts believing in conspiracies.'

That’s the TL;DR from @marlephie.bsky.social’s great summary of new research below. Backed by a huge amount of work and international data. Grateful to have been part of this excellent study. 👍

Patient autonomy in decision-making is more than individual belief: Understanding why health misinformation and conspiracy theories are so appealing

haven't posted in a while, so here goes.
recently had the opportunity to peer-review a thoughtful piece about autonomy and health-misinformation and #conspiracytheories (see here: linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii...) & write a commentary on it (see below or authors.elsevier.com/a/1lPXr2dv7n...)

Conspiracies emerge in the wake of high-profile events, but you can’t debunk them with evidence because little yet exists. Does this mean LLMs can’t debunk conspiracies during ongoing events? No!

We show they can in a new working paper.

PDF: osf.io/preprints/ps...

I had a great chat with @comingupcharlie.bsky.social about why some people reject germ theory in favour of alternative views like ‘terrain theory’, and make a brief appearance in this deep dive into the NZ influencers promoting these ideas. Well worth a read. 👇

Front page frenzy: From Frankenfood to Covid-19 - NBR | The Authority since 1970 The National Business Review Online is New Zealand's authority in breaking business news and analysis.

Nice to see the work of the Science Media Centres highlighted by NBR review of Fox's book. But disagree with the reviewer on one point, NZ's @smcnz.bsky.social has in fact grown in scope and size, and is all the more important given fewer specialist reporters. www.nbr.co.nz/book-review/...

Social contract needed to deliver a 'no BS' public health agenda Government Budgets need to move beyond a financial focus toward a future-focused economic approach that prioritises the capacity and capability of the nation’s productive resources, including people, ...

“There’s no money” isn’t economics, it’s accounting. A real Budget debate asks: are we investing our limited resources in what truly matters for future generations? #NZBudget #PublicHealth @ganeshahirao.bsky.social
www.phcc.org.nz/briefing/soc...

Climate scientists are trusted globally, just not as much as other scientists – here’s why New research shows climate scientists are less trusted than other types of scientists. But there are big differences between countries and specific groups of people.

Trust is a super power. Climate scientists are trusted globally, just not as much as other scientists. Check out this excellent summary of our latest research that explores the reasons why:
theconversation.com/climate-scie...
@mason4c.bsky.social
@omidghasemi.bsky.social

Cover Image for: Risky Research: An AoIR Guide to Researcher Protection and Safety AoIR Risky Research Working Group Contributors: Alice Marwick, Dafna Kaufman, Jacob Smith, Patricia Aufderheide, Jessica Beyer, Emma L. Briant, Coppélie Cocq, Laura Dilley, Sam DiBella, Radhika Gajjala, Kamile Grusauskaite, Alex D. Ketchum, Zelly Martin, Janice Metzger, Erin McInerney, Rachel Moran, John McNutt, Suay Melisa Oezkula, Victoria O’Meara, Riccardo Nanni, Carolina Parreiras, Katy Pearce, Ryan Payne, Meredith Pruden, Christian Sandvig, Caighlan Smith, Sam Srauy, Zeerak Talat, Leonie Tanczer, Robert Tynes, Antonia Vaughan, Shenja van der Graaf, Courtney Vowles, Michele White.

We are delighted to share the publication of Risky Research: An AoIR Guide to Researcher Protection and Safety, the culmination of over two years of collaborative effort by the AoIR Risky Research Working Group.

aoir.org/riskyresearc...

Reo Māori in Russian disinformation network - Taiuru & Associates Ltd This article is about a Māori perspective of the Māori language being used in the Russian international disinformation network.

Here's a summary of what I think is in there too
www.taiuru.co.nz/reo-maori-in...

Russian disinformation sites target NZ with te reo Māori content 'Pravda' sites in New Zealand are part of a global 'hybrid war' campaign.

Unfortunately paywalled but an important piece on Russian disinformation in te reo Māori.

h/t @scicomguy.bsky.social

www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/russian-d...

Does Developing a Belief in One Conspiracy Theory Lead a Person to be More Likely to Believe in Others? The monological belief system model suggests that—for at least a subset of people—developing a belief in one conspiracy theory will cause them to be more likely to believe in others. This model has b...

It's often claimed that developing a belief in one conspiracy theory will increase the chance that someone goes on to believe other conspiracy theories... perhaps leading them down a rabbit hole of conspiracist beliefs. But does that really happen?

doi.org/10.1002/ejsp...

Does microtargeting work? The idea that people can be manipulated by political messages that are furtively tailored to their personality or other vulnerabilities has triggered much concern. But how well founded are those concerns? 1/n

🚨OpEd+data: Meta is out of step with public opinion🚨
Zuck cut moderation b/c he said people no longer want it. But he's wrong!
We polled 1k Americans and most people, including majority of Reps:
i) want content moderation
ii) don't want Community Notes w/o fact-checkers
thehill.com/opinion/tech...

The spread of misinformation and disinformation top the WEF short-term global risk report for 2025. www.weforum.org/publications...

New open-access paper in Annual Review of Psychology with @mjbsp.bsky.social: “Ideology: Psychological Similarities and Differences Across the Ideological Spectrum Reexamined”

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Now publicly available: the #TISP dataset. It contains 71,922 survey responses on public perceptions of science, science communication, and climate change attitudes in 68 countries. Published in @natureportfolio.bsky.social’s #ScientificData: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 📊

Fantastic to see findings of this mammoth project published. Many, many useful insights into how the world sees scientists. Congrats to lead researchers @nielsmede.bsky.social‬ & @colognaviktoria.bsky.social‬. + Thanks to @mdmarques.com for the opportunity to be involved.

Despite fears of falling trust in expert knowledge, a global survey shows New Zealanders value science highly Even if there’s no acute crisis of trust in science, we shouldn’t minimise the disproportionate impact vocal minorities who distrust science may have on policy and society.

I know it often feels as if scientific evidence doesn't matter any more, but a global survey of 72K people in 68 countries shows most of us trust science, and 79% of NZers want scientists to tell us about their research; by Laura Kranz & @scicomguy.bsky.social theconversation.com/despite-fear...

There’s a Scary Study About Fluoride and Children’s IQ Going Around. Here’s What It Really Means. Let’s take a close look at the science.

My new piece for Slate on the current fluoride debate and why the data shows that putting a tiny bit of fluoride in our water is good, actually.

slate.com/technology/2...

Cover of the report - it's in a blue/purple color scheme and shows an abstract illustration of a molecule and the title of the report "Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science Consensus Study Report"

Out now - National Academies consensus report on Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science 🧪

It was a privilege to serve as one of the 15 committee members from a wide range of scientific disciplines who put this report together. Quick 🧵1/

www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/und...

1) Correlation ≠ Causation: Just because two things are linked doesn’t mean one caused the other.
2) The Dose Makes the Poison: Even water can be harmful in excess. Context matters!
3) "Natural" Doesn’t Mean Safer: Natural substances can be just as harmful (or more so) than synthetic ones.

bsky.app/profile/mdma...

Tracking #conspiracy belief over time offers a window into how psychological needs factor into such thinking. A real pleasure to be involved in this great study led by @ealbath.bsky.social ! (+ @mdmarques.com and others)

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Does Lower Psychological Need Satisfaction Foster Conspiracy Belief? Longitudinal Effects Over 3 Years in New Zealand

impressive paper led by @ealbath.bsky.social using longitudinal data to add evidence to the causal nature of how conspiracy beliefs and psychological needs are related
OA link below

Several key New Zealand orgs focussed on monitoring #misinformation closed this year. So I (and several more knowledgeable co-authors) wrote something about how we need to keep tabs on this sort of thing.

Abstract Many conspiracy theories implicate scientists and science. We investigated the impact of exposure to scientific conspiracies about biotechnologies. Across three preregistered online studies (Ns = 1,000), participants who read information about conspiracies involving agribiotechnology companies or biobank scientists were more likely to endorse conspiracies. Other effects of exposure to conspiracy information were mixed. In Study 1, reading about an agricultural biotechnology conspiracy had a small significant effect on reducing intentions to eat genetically modified food. In Study 2, exposure to a conspiracy involving biobank scientists decreased support for biobanks, mediated by decreased trust in biobank scientists. In Study 3, this conspiracy had no effect on wider beliefs of the role of science in society (science populism), nor support of genetically modified food-promoting policies. Overall, we found that exposure to conspiracies involving scientific claims increased conspiracy belief endorsement and can further negative effects. However, the effects of conspiracies on science populism appear limited.

The effect of scientific conspiracy theories on scepticism towards biotechnologies

excited to see this #conspiracytheories paper out w/ collaborators @scicomguy.bsky.social, Art Stukas, & Jim McLennan

Will write a 🧵 soon but for now here's the #openaccess link

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

People do change their beliefs about conspiracy theories—but not often - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - People do change their beliefs about conspiracy theories—but not often

here's some of our research on the stability of belief in #conspiracytheories over time (curious to see the @altmetric.com )

paper led by @matthewmatix.bsky.social incl @lingtax.bsky.social @scicomguy.bsky.social @srhastraea.bsky.social Mawson & Clarke

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Image of the Civic Information Dashboard showing at a county level how different variables impact people's access to news and information.

The 20 different indicators that were measured for every county in the US.

Proud to have played a very small part in the building of this Civic News Index. The Index explores the role that news & info play in US communities, using data to map drivers of engaged, informed, equitable & healthy communities. civicinfoindex.org