“Quick and dirty”: Intuitive cognitive style predicts trust in Didier Raoult and his hydroxychloroquine-based treatment against COVID-19 Joffrey Fuhrer Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9781-8014 Florian Cova Department of Philosophy, University of Geneva
[email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9360-8290 Abstract In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, French public opinion has been divided about Pr. Didier Raoult and his hydroxychloroquine-based treatment against COVID-19. In this paper, our aim is to contribute to the understanding of this polarization of public opinion by investigating the relationship between (analytic vs. intuitive) cognitive style and trust in Didier Raoult and his treatment. Through three studies (total N after exclusion = 950), we found that a more intuitive cognitive style predicted higher trust in Didier Raoult and his treatment. Possible mediators included knowledge of scientific methods, valorization of scientific method over personal experience, belief that truth is political, belief in conspiracy theories and belief in pseudo-medicines. Additionally, we found that higher trust in Didier Raoult and hydroxychloroquine was linked to higher pseudo-medical and conspiratorial beliefs regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, but not to self-reported behavior, such as lower compliance with official regulations. “Le professeur Raoult, qu’est-ce qu’il a fait ? Il a fait de la science quick and dirty !” - Idriss Aberkane, 2020 1. Introduction 1.1. Didier Raoult, hydroxychloroquine, and the polarization of French opinion On January 23th, 2020, the WHO declared that the COVID-19 outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) (World Health Organization, 2020a).