theESP

Politics

TheESP – Ep. #323 – Péter Krekó

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Social Psychology and conspiracy theories

In quick news the Hungarian Skeptics has announced Gábor Varga as their Flat Earth Award winner for 2022 and also we keep reminding all listeners to sign up for European Skeptics Congress in Vienna in September.
This week we interview Péter Krekó who is a social psychologist and an expert in conspiracy theories. We talk about everything from state propaganda and the pandemic to how social media has changed the environment for all of us and how and why it has increased the polarization in politics.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;
 
0:00:33 INTRO

0:00:58 GREETINGS

0:08:00 INTERVIEW

  • Péter Krekó is the executive director of Political Capital, an independent policy research institute in Hungary. He’s had fellowships at some of the most illustrious universities of countries from the UK to Austria and the US. He wrote his PhD dissertation on conspiracy theories, but also wrote books on this and other similar topics. His first book the title of which translates to English as Mass Paranoia deals with the social psychological basis for fake news and conspiracy theories. His latest book that he co-wrote and co-edited bears the title Sarlatánok kora, which translates as the Age of Charlatans and it was released only about a week ago. He’s an associate professor of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and he’s a very frequent guest on television panels on topics ranging from conspiracies, to misinformation and propaganda. Also, he will be one of the speakers at the European Skeptics Congress in Vienna held between 9th and 11th September, where he’ll be participating in the Sunday session on conspiracy theories.

1:04:36 OUTRO

1:05:55 OUT-TAKES

CHARITIES FOR UKRAINE