Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review

Abstract

COVID-19 conspiracy theories emerged almost immediately after the beginning of the pandemic, and the number of believers does not appear to decline. Believing in these theories can negatively affect adherence to safety guidelines and vaccination intentions, potentially endangering the lives of many. Thus, one part in successfully fighting the pandemic is to understand the antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, which are here presented in a rapid review summarizing research from more than 28 countries. We evaluate the contribution of individual difference variables (demographic variables, personality traits, coping with threat and uncertainty), beliefs, biases, and attitudes (epistemically suspect beliefs, thinking styles and cognitive biases, attitudes towards science), and social factors (group identities, trust in authorities, social media) to COVID-19 conspiracy theories. We discuss the consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs in regard to safeguarding behaviours (hygiene, distancing, and mask-wearing), self-centred (hoarding) and misguided behaviours (pseudoscientific practices), vaccination intentions, mental health and negative social consequences (e.g., discrimination and violence). Differences between countries as well as various conspiracy theories are considered. Summarising, we suggest that belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories is boosted by low levels of trust in a context of threat and low levels of comprehensive, accessible information in a context of uncertainty and unknowns. We conclude that research is urgently needed to address potential interventions to (re-)establish trust and provide accessible information about COVID-19.

When we are worried, what are we thinking? Anxiety, lack of control, and conspiracy beliefs amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…A recent meta‐analysis shows the prevalence of anxiety during the COVID‐19 pandemic to be almost 32% (Salari et al, 2020) based on samples from all over the world. Such feelings of threat, hopelessness, and anxiety are known to be associated with a higher tendency to endorse conspiracy beliefs (for reviews, see Douglas et al, 2019; van Prooijen & Douglas, 2017; van Prooijen & van Vugt, 2018), which may be exactly why the COVID‐19 pandemic is associated with such a proliferation of conspiracy theories regarding the origin, spread, and the potential cure of the new coronavirus (e.g., van Mulukom et al, 2020).…”

Patterns of Media Use, Strength of Belief in COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories, and the Prevention of COVID-19 From March to July 2020 in the United States: Survey Study

“…As with all conspiracy theories, it is difficult to determine the validity of those related to COVID-19 because the putative actors work in secret [ 12 ]. Although stigmatized as paranoid by some [ 5 ], such beliefs have a surprising ability to attract adherents [ 6 ], and their influence has increasingly been observed in response to COVID-19 public health recommendations, such as vaccination and social distancing [ 13 , 14 ].…”

“…Previous research has found that both misinformation [ 19 ] and conspiracy beliefs are resistant to change [ 6 , 7 , 20 , 21 ] and that holding conspiracy beliefs related to COVID-19 is associated with lower levels of behaviors known to prevent its spread [ 13 , 22 ]. In addition, single cross-sectional studies have found a positive relationship between social media use and COVID-19 misinformation [ 1 ] and conspiracy beliefs [ 14 , 23 , 24 ] and found that mainstream media consumption is associated with greater rejection of them [ 25 , 26 ]. However, such cross-sectional data cannot determine whether persistent use of these sources is related to change in these beliefs across time or whether efforts undertaken between the two surveys by media outlets to decrease the amount of conspiracy content about COVID-19–related topics is associated with a decrease in these beliefs.…”

“…Misleading information percolated through social media as the pandemic unfolded [ 14 , 23 ]. On March 3, 2020, NewsGuard [ 32 ] raised an alarm due to the following finding:…”

“…In particular, we tested our major hypothesis (H1) that use of mainstream news media such as broadcast television and newspapers that abide by journalistic norms of reporting would predict reduction in conspiracy belief. With regard to social media, which are not constrained by such norms and have been found to be associated with belief in conspiracy theories about the pandemic [ 14 , 23 ], we explored whether their use might have strengthened conspiracy beliefs or alternatively, consistent with efforts by major platforms to remove misinformation and conspiracies, have reduced the strength of those beliefs over time. Our prior analysis of the role of conservative media suggested our second major hypothesis (H2) that use of conservative media would strengthen conspiracy beliefs.…”