Beliefs in Conspiracies

Abstract

This study used canonical correlation to examine the relationship of 11 individual difference variables to two measures of beliefs in conspiracies. Undergraduates were administered a questionnaire that included these two measures (beliefs in specific conspiracies and attitudes toward the existence of conspiracies) and scales assessing the 11 variables. High levels of anomie, authoritarianism, and powerlessness, along with a low level of self-esteem, were related to beliefs in specific conspiracies, whereas high levels of external locus of control and hostility, along with a low level of trust, were related to attitudes toward the existence of conspiracies in general. These findings support the idea that beliefs in conspiracies are related to feelings of alienation, powerlessness, hostility, and being disadvantaged. There was no support for the idea that people believe in conspiracies because they provide simplified explanations of complex events.

Measuring Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Validation of a French and English Single-Item Scale

“…To examine convergent validity, we measured paranormal belief, which is known to correlate positively with responses on existing conspiracy belief scales (Brotherton et al, 2013;Darwin, Neave, & Holmes, 2011;Lobato, Mendoza, Sims, & Chin, 2014). We also measured interpersonal trust which is known to correlate negatively with conspiracy belief (Abalakina-Paap et al, 1999;Goertzel, 1994;Wagner-Egger & Bangerter, 2007). We expected the same pattern of results using our single-item conspiracy belief scale.…”

“…Indeed, a significant body of empirical work has explored the relationships between various individual differences variables and conspiracy belief (e.g., Bruder, Haffke, Neave, Nouripanah, & Imhoff, 2013;Goertzel, 1994;Swami, Chamorro-Premuzic, & Furnham, 2010;Swami et al, 2011). To name just a few, people who hold conspiracy beliefs are characterized by lower agreeableness (Swami et al, 2010(Swami et al, , 2011, lower interpersonal trust (Abalakina-Paap, Stephan, Craig, & Gregory, 1999;Goertzel, 1994;Wagner-Egger & Bangerter, 2007), and higher openness to experience (Swami et al, 2011;Swami et al, 2013).…”

The social consequences of conspiracism: Exposure to conspiracy theories decreases intentions to engage in politics and to reduce one's carbon footprint

“…It is difficult to imagine that millions of conspiracy believers all suffer significant psychological symptoms. More recent research has taken a less pathologizing perspective on conspiracy beliefs, demonstrating that there are several key sub-clinical correlates of conspiracy beliefs such as anomie, distrust in authority, political cynicism, powerlessness (Abalakina-Paap et al, 1999;Goertzel, 1994; and Machiavellianism (Douglas & Sutton, 2011).…”

“…First, research has linked beliefs in conspiracy theories with low levels of trust (Goertzel, 1994;Abalakina-Paap et al, 1999). In addition, research has suggested that a possible reason for the observed drop in political engagement could be the decline in trust people have for each other and different institutions (e.g., Fiorina, 2002;Putnam, 1995;Shaffer 1981).…”

The Conspiratorial Style in Lay Economic Thinking

“…Numerous personality factors, emotional states and social political attitudes have been found to correlate with support for CTs, including anomia (broadly: distrust towards authorities, feelings of powerlessness, and feelings of dissatisfaction about one's life; [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], personal and social (i.e., feeling of insecurity) anxiety [29][30][31], negative self-esteem [19,22,26,32], paranoia and schizotypy [16,21,26,28,[33][34][35][36][37], Right-Wing Authoritarianism [19,28,32,38]; but only marginally in [39], and irrationality or paranormal beliefs [16,21,24,26,28,30,35,[40][41][42][43][44]. Motivational processes have also been underlined.…”