Do you have to be mad to believe in conspiracy theories? Personality disorders and conspiracy theories

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between belief in conspiracy theories and the personality disorders. A sample of 475 British adults, aged around 30 years, completed measures of Belief in Conspiracy Theories (CTs) and the Personality Disorders (PDs), as well as the SAPAS, a short intelligence test and two self-evaluations. Belief in CTs was correlated with nearly all PDs, as well as the three established higher order clusters (A: odd and eccentric; B: dramatic and emotional; C: anxious). A series of stepwise multiple regressions were computed. A final regression showed five of the variables (education, intelligence, Cluster A, B, and C) were significant, which indicated that less well-educated and less intelligent participants, scoring higher on two PD clusters (Cluster A and B) but lower on Cluster C, believed more in the CTs. Implications of the study for understanding the origin of CTs is discussed. Limitations of the study, particularly the sample and measures used, are acknowledged.

Vaccine Hesitancy, Anti-Vax, COVID-Conspirationism: From Subcultural Convergence to Public Health and Bioethical Problems

“…This agrees with the alleged importance of maladaptive personality features (such as schizotypal odd beliefs) and poorer reality testing in determining a higher proneness to entertain conspiracy beliefs ( 11 – 13 ). This suggests that individual psychotic-like features (e.g., odd beliefs, poor reality testing, biased thinking not amenable to change in light of conflicting or disconfirmatory evidence) are likely to contribute to the enactment of COVID-related conspiracy beliefs to their utmost consequences (including self-threatening therapeutic refusal).…”

Who falls for fake news? Psychological and clinical profiling evidence of fake news consumers

“…With this prior instruction, this type of participant might wish to please and correspond with the expectations of the research team. This kind of behavior is very common in histrionic profiles (see Furnham & Grover, 2021 ). For this reason, histrionic scores were elevated in those participants who did not correctly detect fake news.…”

Cover Ups and Conspiracy Theories: Demographics, Work Disenchantment, Equity Sensitivity, and Beliefs in Cover-ups

“…demographic (sex, age, education), ideological factors (religion, politics), and conspiracy beliefs has been explored (Sutton & Douglas, 2020;Furnham 2021a;Furnham & Grover, 2021). The results suggest less well-educated people with strong religious beliefs and conservative political views are more likely to endorse both general and specific conspiracy theories (Swami & Furnham, 2012.…”

“…Yiu et al (2011) called the benevolent "givers" and the entitled "takers", though these terms are not as well known or used as the originals. There is a relevant literature on the positive relationship between narcissism and CTs (Bowes et al, 2020;Furnham & Grover, 2021), which suggests that that those who feel entitled, a hallmark of narcissism, will endorse CTs. In short, entitlement may be seen as a sign of sub-clinical or clinical narcissism.…”

“…The results showed that a feeling of being entitled, the idea they are somehow being deprived or unfairly treated (which is associated with basic suspiciousness and possible sub-clinical paranoia and narcissism), is associated with all CTs. Those who are disenchanted at work tend to be unhappy, demotivated, and alienated with feelings of being unfairly dealt with, all of which provide fertile experiences leading to CTs and radical beliefs (Furnham & Grover, 2021;Furnham & Treglown, 2017). The correlation between the totalled disenchantment and CT score was .21 (N = 499, p < .001).…”