Conspiracy theorists online express more anger and out-group talk than science popularizers.

Evidence

Most studies in this field of research just ask regular people questions about the extent to which they endorse a myriad of conspiracy theories. But we wanted to do something novel – to examine the language used by actual conspiracy theorists, to see if there are particular patterns – or psycholinguistic features – that make conspiracy theorists distinct in the way that they express themselves online. By analysing the language used in hundreds of thousands of tweets from the most popular conspiracy theorists on Twitter, we found that they express much more negative emotions – particularly anger – compared to their popular-science counterparts. They also swear and talk much more about other groups and power structures. All of which is reflected in Alan’s language: he’s angry, he’s swearing at others, and he’s dismantling what he perceives as unfair power structures. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 206

Categorization

• XREF: Psycholinguistic profiling links to grief/rage framing of belief; echoes the status-anxiety drivers found in the author’s trust work. — connects to: Conspiracy theorists on Twitter express more anger and swearing than science communicators — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 206

Broader Connections

• Conspiracy theorists on Twitter express more anger and swearing than science communicators #corroborates (1.00) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 206