intervention
Definition
Intervention refers to a planned, deliberate action or programme designed to change a psychological process, belief, or behaviour in individuals or populations. Its effect is typically judged by comparison with a control condition or a baseline.
In research published in Advances in Psychology, intervention denotes a deliberate attempt to change beliefs or behaviour, assessed against a comparison condition or derived from an explicit theoretical model. One line of work compared four brief conspiracy belief interventions (Priming, Inoculation, Active Inoculation, and Discernment) across two studies with 1,766 participants. Only the inoculation-based conditions reduced susceptibility to implausible conspiracy theories and epistemically unwarranted beliefs, with overall effects ranging from d = 0.14 to 0.72. The same inoculations did not improve appraisal of plausible conspiracy theories, a pattern the authors termed blind scepticism. Only the Discernment condition improved critical appraisal of both plausible and implausible claims. A separate contribution treats intervention as the application of a validated behavioural science model. The IMB Model of Pandemic Risk and Prevention holds that accurate information, personal and social motivation, and behavioural skills determine preventive acts such as vaccination, masking, and testing. It offers a framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions to sustain them.
Sources: O’Mahony et al. (2024), Fisher & Fisher (2023)
Related Terms
- Information—Motivation—Behavioral Skills Model (1 shared article)
- prevention (1 shared article)
- COVID-19 (1 shared article)
- Next pandemic (1 shared article)
- health behavior change (1 shared article)
- inoculation (1 shared article)
- misinformation (1 shared article)
- conspiracy theories (1 shared article)
- discernment (1 shared article)
- critical appraisal (1 shared article)
Applications
Intervention and Conspiracy Beliefs
A Priming condition modelled on government warning campaigns produced no significant gains over control, and no intervention significantly reduced general conspiracy ideation, although inoculation-based approaches lowered belief in implausible conspiracy theories.
Sources: O’Mahony et al. (2024)
Intervention and Discernment
The authors argue that a successful conspiracy intervention should help people selectively reject unreasonable theories rather than disavow anything conspiratorial. In their studies, only the Discernment condition, which discouraged blind scepticism, improved appraisal of plausible and implausible conspiracy theories alike.
Sources: O’Mahony et al. (2024)
Intervention and Health Behavior Change
The IMB Model of Health Behavior Change has guided interventions across several health domains for decades, notably in the HIV pandemic. Its authors contend that public health responses to COVID-19 relied on ad hoc, largely atheoretical strategies, and that theory-based models adapted to pandemic contexts are needed to produce widespread, voluntary, and sustained preventive behaviour.
Sources: Fisher & Fisher (2023)
