Data from 28,000 people reveals which conspiracy debunking strategies tend to work best

Photo: Airplane contrails (chemtrail conspiracy theory), Photo credit: Mark Turnauckas via Flickr. CC BY 2.0. Article by Eric W. Dolan. PsyPost – January 17, 2026.

A new comprehensive analysis suggests that while conspiracy beliefs are deeply entrenched, they are not entirely resistant to change. The findings indicate that specific intervention strategies, particularly those involving direct fact-checking and alternative explanations, can achieve modest reductions in these beliefs. This meta-analysis was published in the European Journal of Social Psychology. […]

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