Scientists have learned a lot about why people believe in conspiracy theories and how they harm society over the past couple of decades. Yet little is known about how the groups targeted by conspiracy theories feel and behave.
Our new research found that conspiracy theories can make people from their target communities want to help and support each other. And we also found that popular conspiracy theories about groups of people can make them more fearful and distrustful of people from outside their group.
This means conspiracy theories probably do even more harm to society than people realise. Not only do they stoke up hatred against groups of people, but they also make it harder for the targets of conspiracy theories to feel that they can safely interact with people from outside their community.
