Viewpoint: Cocky but wrong—feeling superior feeds medical and health conspiracy theories

Feeling smarter than everyone else might be exactly what makes people fall for medical misinformation, as Glendale Star columnist Mia Smitt argues in a recent piece on health conspiracy theories, from the debunked MMR-autism link to COVID-19 myths about microchips and DNA alteration.

Smitt traces the pattern through cases like the retracted 1998 Lancet studies linking vaccines to autism, false claims that the HPV vaccine encourages teen sex, and the on-and-off panic over hormone replacement therapy. Each myth outlived its debunking — MMR hesitancy alone is tied to a 180% jump in U.S. measles cases between 2024 and 2025.

The overconfidence connection

The real hook is psychological. Smitt cites a 2023 Psychological Bulletin meta-analysis finding that “a reliance on intuition, a heightened perception of environmental threats, antagonism and often a feeling of superiority” make people more prone to conspiracy theories. A 2024 Journal of Social Psychology study links the same belief patterns to entitlement. Her takeaway: certainty feels good, but it’s not evidence.

Related on the SLP

Measles outbreak: Republicans more likely than Democrats to believe vaccines more dangerous than the disease itself Viewpoint: Science be damned—RFK, Jr. has his mind made up about the causes of autism

Viewpoint: Dubious environmental fears: Why the AI buildout is critical to America’s ecological future

Vitamin D, omega-3 fish oil and glucosamine supplements could cause brain damage 

Child-monitoring apps: When the cure is worse than the harm—and how the technology could be tweaked

Related on the SLP Narcissists are more likely to fall for conspiracy theories. Why?

Read the original article here