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Do You Think the CIA Infected African-Americans With HIV? You’re Not Alone
Cross-posted in GD http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024689238
Do You Think the CIA Infected African-Americans With HIV? You’re Not Alone
About half of the grown-up population in America believes at least one medical conspiracy theory, a new survey from the University of Chicago shows.
In the study, 1,351 adults were asked about whether they had heard of, and agreed or disagreed with, six popular medical conspiracy theories, such as those which hold that U.S. regulators prevent people from getting natural cures, that the U.S. government knows cell phones cause cancer but does nothing about it, and that the CIA infected a large number of African Americans with HIV.
About 49% of the people agreed with at least one of the theories, which all had distrust of the government or large corporations as the common characteristic.
...
http://time.com/29810/half-of-americans-believe-in-medical-conspiracy-theories/
About half of the grown-up population in America believes at least one medical conspiracy theory, a new survey from the University of Chicago shows.
In the study, 1,351 adults were asked about whether they had heard of, and agreed or disagreed with, six popular medical conspiracy theories, such as those which hold that U.S. regulators prevent people from getting natural cures, that the U.S. government knows cell phones cause cancer but does nothing about it, and that the CIA infected a large number of African Americans with HIV.
About 49% of the people agreed with at least one of the theories, which all had distrust of the government or large corporations as the common characteristic.
...
http://time.com/29810/half-of-americans-believe-in-medical-conspiracy-theories/
And from Reuters
With regard to the theory that childhood vaccines cause psychological disorders like autism and the government knows it, 69 percent had heard the idea, 20 percent agreed with it and 44 percent disagreed.
...
Overall, the researchers say people who believed in conspiracies were more likely to use alternative medicine and to avoid traditional medicine.
"Although it is common to disparage adherents of conspiracy theories as a delusional fringe of paranoid cranks, our data suggest that medical conspiracy theories are widely known, broadly endorsed, and highly predictive of many common health behaviors," the researchers write in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Oliver said the findings may have implications for doctors.
Instead of viewing patients who believe in conspiracy theories as crazy, he said doctors should realize those patients may be less likely to follow a prescription regimen.
"It's important to increase information about health and science to the public," he said. "I think scientific thinking is not a very intuitive way to see the world. For people who don't have a lot of education, it's relatively easy to reject the scientific way of thinking about things."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/us-medical-conspiracies-idUSBREA2H22K20140318
...
Overall, the researchers say people who believed in conspiracies were more likely to use alternative medicine and to avoid traditional medicine.
"Although it is common to disparage adherents of conspiracy theories as a delusional fringe of paranoid cranks, our data suggest that medical conspiracy theories are widely known, broadly endorsed, and highly predictive of many common health behaviors," the researchers write in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Oliver said the findings may have implications for doctors.
Instead of viewing patients who believe in conspiracy theories as crazy, he said doctors should realize those patients may be less likely to follow a prescription regimen.
"It's important to increase information about health and science to the public," he said. "I think scientific thinking is not a very intuitive way to see the world. For people who don't have a lot of education, it's relatively easy to reject the scientific way of thinking about things."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/us-medical-conspiracies-idUSBREA2H22K20140318
3 replies
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