Sign in

Mikey Biddlestone

@mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social
2.4K followers 798 following 90 posts

Research Associate @COSPIRACY_FX @KentPsychology @UniKent. Studying Misinformation | Conspiracy Beliefs | Political Psychology (he/him).

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Mikey Biddlestone
JESP @jexpsocpsych.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Check out some more coverage of a recent paper we published by @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social @unikent.bsky.social & colleagues about how to beat misinformation! holistic.news/en/recognizi...
holistic.news
Recognizing Fake News: An Open Mind Can Help
Recognizing fake news is a challenge. An experiment based on open-minded thinking showed that you don't need much to help yourself.
141
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Merci! Was so much fun to do this paper actually, hope you enjoy!
010
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Once again, the paper can be found open access here 👉 doi.org/10.1111/bjop... #Misinformation #ConspiracyTheories #Prebunking #ClimateChange #COVID19 12/12
doi.org
010
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
I would like to thank my fantastic co-authors: Ricky Green, @dtoribio.bsky.social, Dylan de Gourville, Robbie M. Sutton, & Karen M. Douglas! 11/12
120
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
This adds nuance: interventions may not always need to disprove conspiracy theories outright. Sometimes, redirecting suspicion toward the real conspiracies behind misinformation might be enough 10/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Implication: Even if we can’t directly reduce conspiracy beliefs, reframing them as the product of real, documented collusion to spread misinformation could engage resistant audiences and still support healthier, pro-social behaviour 9/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
And crucially: 🔥 “Fighting fire with fire” worked regardless of prior conspiracy mentality or climate beliefs. ⚠️ Standard prebunking only helped those lower in conspiracy mentality / higher in climate acceptance. 8/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Importantly, meta-conspiracy beliefs were positively linked to intentions (e.g. vaccinating, reducing carbon footprint). Indirect path models showed positive indirect effects of our intervention on these intentions via meta-conspiracy beliefs 7/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Results: ❌ Did not reduce belief in specific conspiracy theories. ✅ Increased belief in plausible meta-conspiracies. ✅ Did not backfire—no increase in conspiracy beliefs. ✅ Meta-conspiracy beliefs were negatively correlated with specific conspiracy beliefs 6/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Two preregistered studies tested this: Study 1: COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories (N = 720) Study 2: Climate change conspiracy theories (N = 1077) 5/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Why this approach? Because awareness of such meta-conspiracies may sow doubt about original conspiracy theories among conspiracy believers by offering an alternative conspiacy narrative 4/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Enter: Fighting fire with fire. Instead of only warning about manipulation, we introduced plausible meta-conspiracies—that conspiracy theories themselves are deliberately spread through secret collusion (e.g. fossil fuel companies, hostile states) to mislead the public 3/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Standard prebunking warns people about manipulation, but what if those with entrenched conspiracy beliefs are more resistant to this intervention messaging? We asked: could a different style of prebunking work better? 2/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
🚨New open access paper out in BJP special issue "Psychological Understanding of Misinformation and Disinformation in the Face of Environmental Crises"! “Fighting fire with fire: Prebunking with the use of a plausible meta-conspiracy framing” 🧵👇 1/12 📖 doi.org/10.1111/bjop...
Landing page for our article "Fighting fire with fire: Prebunking with the use of a plausible meta-conspiracy framing" published in the British Journal of Psychology
2126
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Once again, the paper can be found open access here 👉 doi.org/10.1111/bjop... #Misinformation #ConspiracyTheories #Prebunking #ClimateChange #COVID19 12/12
doi.org
000
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
I would like to thank my fantastic co-authors: Ricky Green, @dtoribio.bsky.social, Dylan de Gourville, Robbie M. Sutton, & Karen M. Douglas! 11/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
This adds nuance: interventions may not always need to disprove conspiracy theories outright. Sometimes, redirecting suspicion toward the real conspiracies behind misinformation might be enough 10/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Implication: Even if we can’t directly reduce conspiracy beliefs, reframing them as the product of real, documented collusion to spread misinformation could engage resistant audiences and still support healthier, pro-social behaviour 9/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
And crucially: 🔥 “Fighting fire with fire” worked regardless of prior conspiracy mentality or climate beliefs. ⚠️ Standard prebunking only helped those lower in conspiracy mentality / higher in climate acceptance. 8/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Importantly, meta-conspiracy beliefs were positively linked to intentions (e.g. vaccinating, reducing carbon footprint). Indirect path models showed positive indirect effects of our intervention on these intentions via meta-conspiracy beliefs 7/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Results: ❌ Did not reduce belief in specific conspiracy theories. ✅ Increased belief in plausible meta-conspiracies. ✅ Did not backfire—no increase in conspiracy beliefs. ✅ Meta-conspiracy beliefs were negatively correlated with specific conspiracy beliefs 6/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Two preregistered studies tested this: Study 1: COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories (N = 720) Study 2: Climate change conspiracy theories (N = 1077) 5/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Why this approach? Because awareness of such meta-conspiracies may sow doubt about original conspiracy theories among conspiracy believers by offering an alternative conspiacy narrative 4/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Enter: Fighting fire with fire. Instead of only warning about manipulation, we introduced plausible meta-conspiracies—that conspiracy theories themselves are deliberately spread through secret collusion (e.g. fossil fuel companies, hostile states) to mislead the public 3/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Standard prebunking warns people about manipulation, but what if those with entrenched conspiracy beliefs are more resistant to this intervention messaging? We asked: could a different style of prebunking work better? 2/12
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Read the full open access paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Norm-enhanced prebunking for actively open-minded thinking indirectly improves misinformation discernment and reduces conspiracy beliefs
Recent research has demonstrated that actively open-minded thinking (AOT)—a cognitive thinking style characterized by the active avoidance of myside b…
000
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Our recent paper on improving AOT and reducing #misinformation susceptibility with prebunking (@rakoenmaertens.bsky.social @profsanderlinden.bsky.social et al.) was picked up by @psypost.bsky.social! www.psypost.org/a-simple-cog...
psypost.org
A simple cognitive vaccine can make you more resistant to misinformation
A recent study tested whether people can be “inoculated” against misinformation by shifting how they think. The results suggest that boosting open-minded thinking through a simple message can reduce c...
1132
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Our article "Norm-enhanced prebunking for actively open-minded thinking indirectly improves misinformation discernment and reduces conspiracy beliefs" has now been published open access in JESP! @rakoenmaertens.bsky.social @profsanderlinden.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S00… 🧵👇
authors.elsevier.com
0115
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Hmm that's strange it works for me and someone else I checked with🤔will look into it. Thanks for the heads up!
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
The paper is open access, and the videos can be downloaded from this OSF link: osf.io/8g7jc/ 17/17
osf.io
101
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
I would also like to thank my co-authors Jon Roozenbeek, @janesuit.bsky.social, Eileen Culloty, and @profsanderlinden.bsky.social for their incredible work on this project! 16/17
121
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
We would like to thank @PolPsyISPP for their impressive peer-review process, as well as @AUKCabOffice and @dfatirl for their funding 15/17
101
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
We hope that others use these videos to run prebunking campaigns aiming to improve people’s detection of polarization, conspiracy theories, fake experts, the straw man fallacy, whataboutism, and the moving the goalposts fallacy 14/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
While we urge caution when presenting the moving the goalposts fallacy video, we suggest that this video is still likely to have a positive impact with a need to test this video with a standardised item rating task 13/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
The motivation to resist manipulation was significantly higher in the prebunking conditions compared to the control in Study 2. 12/17
110
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
In multilevel models controlling for individual items and item categories, only the straw man fallacy and whataboutism videos improved relevant discernment 11/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Finally, the moving the goalposts fallacy video improved detection of relevant manipulation, but did not change discernment, and INCREASED manipulativeness assessments of non-manipulative content. This video may have increased overall distrust 10/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
The whataboutism video improved detection of relevant manipulation, but did not change discernment or perceptions of non-manipulative content 9/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
In Study 2, we developed three logic-based inoculation videos with studioyou.london and Lens Change. The straw man fallacy video improved detection of relevant manipulation and discernment 8/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Surprisingly, the motivation to resist manipulation was significantly lower in the prebunking conditions compared to the control in Study 1. 7/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
In multilevel models controlling for individual items and item categories, all three of the technique-based inoculation videos improved relevant discernment 6/17
110
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Similarly, the fake experts video improved detection of manipulation without changing discernment or perceptions of non-manipulative content 5/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
The conspiracy theories video improved detection of manipulation, but not discernment. However, this was not due to increased distrust overall, as perceptions of non-manipulative content were unchanged 4/17
100
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
In Study 1, we developed three technique-based inoculation videos with @LukeNewbold and Sean Sears at studioyou.london. We were especially impressed by what they did for the polarization video (and it improved discernment)! CW: Pineapple pizza lovers look away 3/17
110
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
- All 6 videos improved detection of relevant manipulation. - 2 videos also improved relevant discernment. - 5 videos left perceptions of non-manipulative content unchanged, with one potentially increasing distrust 2/17
Table demonstrating the effects of each video on relevant manipulation discernment and detection of both manipulative and non-manipulative content from our paper "Tune in to the prebunking network!Development and validation of six inoculation videos that prebunk manipulation tactics and logical fallacies in misinformation".
120
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
🚨New paper🚨Tune in to the prebunking network! Development and validation of six inoculation videos that prebunk manipulation tactics and logical fallacies in misinformation 1/17 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Landing page for our new open access article “Tune in to the prebunking network! Development and validation of six inoculation videos that prebunk manipulation tactics and logical fallacies in misinformation”, published in Political Psychology.
23512
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Our meta-analysis "Reasons to believe: A systematic review and meta-analytic synthesis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs" is now published at Psychological Bulletin! Please refer to this thread, ResearchGate, and PsyArXiv for details! psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...
Landing page for our article "Reasons to believe: A systematic review and meta-analytic synthesis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs"
14214
Reposted by Mikey Biddlestone
Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 14/01/2025
Misinformation isn't random - it's strategic. 🧵 In the first cross-national comparative study, we examine 32M tweets from politicians. We find that misinformation is not a general condition: it is driven by populist radical right parties. with @julianachueri.bsky.social doi.org/10.1177/1940...
16163843355
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Our work with the Digipatch team was picked up by IFLScience! www.iflscience.com/how-to-deal-... "People who are motivated by obtaining power...may share misinformation...as a form of brokerage to gain a following". Read our full paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
iflscience.com
How To Deal With The Misinformation-Spreading Conspiracy Theorist In Your Life This Holiday
Conspiracies over the Christmas cake? Misinformation with your mince pies? Here are ways to deal with difficult conversations this holiday season.
010
Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Thanks so much Matouš! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
000