Emotion Dysregulation and Conspiracy Beliefs about COVID-19: The Moderating Role of Critical Social Media Use

Abstract

As COVID-19 has spread worldwide, conspiracy theories have proliferated rapidly on social media platforms, adversely affecting public health. For this reason, media literacy interventions have been highly recommended, although the impact of critical social media use on the development of COVID-19 conspiracy theories has not yet been empirically studied. Moreover, emotional dysregulation may play another crucial role in the development of such theories, as they are often associated with stress, anxiety, lack of control, and other negative emotions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that emotion dysregulation would be positively associated with conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 and that critical use of social media would attenuate this association. Data from 930 Italian participants (339 men and 591 women) were collected online during the third wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. A moderated model was tested using the PROCESS Macro for SPSS. Results showed that: (1) emotion dysregulation and critical social media use accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19; and (2) critical social media use moderated the effect of emotion dysregulation on conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19. Implications for preventing the spread of conspiracy theories are discussed.

Psihologija Vjerovanja U Teorije Zavjere / Psychology of Conspiracy Beliefs

“…Osim jasno ustanovljenih korelacija negativnih emocija sa teorijama zavjere, najnovija istraživanja kao značajan faktor izdvajaju i emocionalnu regulaciju, koja bi, po nekim preliminarnim pokazateljima, mogla igrati značajnu ulogu u nastajanju i širenju teorija zavjera (Scandurra et al 2022), a posebno s obzirom na to da vanredne društvene situacije postavljaju pred svakog pojedinca dodatne zahtjeve za adekvatno nošenje sa stresom. Emocionalna regulacija kao multidimenzionalni konstrukt obuhvata svjesnost, razumijevanje i prihvatanje vlastitih emocija, sposobnost kontrole impulsivnog ponašanja u stanju uznemirenosti, sposobnost korištenja adekvatnih strategija upravljanja jačinom i trajanjem emocija u skladu sa zahtjevima situacije i u odnosu prema željenim ciljevima (a ne njihovog eliminiranje ili izbjegavanje), te spremnost da se dožive i negativna afektivna stanja u kontekstu neke smislene aktivnosti (Gratz i Roemer 2004).…”

Believing in conspiracy theories: The role of emotional granularity and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies

“…In line with these findings, two recent studies have established a correlation between conspiracist ideation and difficulties in emotion regulation, suggesting that the belief in conspiracies may be a maladaptive strategy for managing negative emotions. In contrast, rather than offering a genuine solution, they provide individuals with a false sense of structure and predictability (Molenda et al, 2023; Scandurra et al, 2022). As a result, it is unsurprising that conspiracy theories emerge mainly following significant events van Prooijen & Douglas, 2017) like the COVID‐19 pandemic or the assassination of John F. Kennedy.…”