Finding Someone to Blame: The Link Between COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs, Prejudice, Support for Violence, and Other Negative Social Outcomes

Abstract

One of the appeals of conspiracy theories in times of crises is that they provide someone to blame for what has happened. Thereby, they increase distrust, negative feelings, and hostility toward implicated actors, whether those are powerful social outgroups or one’s own government representatives. Two studies reported here examine associations of COVID-19 conspiracy theories with prejudice, support for violence, and other and negative social outcomes. In Study 1 (N = 501), the endorsement of the more specific conspiracy theories about the alleged role of China was associated with more prejudiced views of Chinese and Italian people. In Study 2 (N = 1024), lowered trust in government regulations and increased hostility associated with the COVID-19 and generic conspiracy beliefs were correlated with justification of and willingness to engage in non-compliance with regulations, violent attacks on 5G masts, and anti-government protests. Across both of the studies, higher exposure to news about COVID-19 was associated with lower endorsement of conspiracy theories, but also with increased feelings of anxiety and lack of control, which in turn were correlated with higher COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs endorsement. We highlight the potential social problems which are associated with the wide-spread endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracy theories.

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

“…However, the threat of COVID-19 does not just involve an epistemic need violation – a lack of certainties – but also existential need violations, such as a lack of autonomy and agency ( Jutzi et al, 2020 ). COVID-19 conspiracy belief was associated with a lack of personal control ( Biddlestone et al, 2020 ; Kim and Kim, 2021 ; Oleksy et al, 2021 ; Šrol et al, 2021 , 2022 ). Threat perception was a predictor of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs ( Heiss et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Experimentally manipulating threat salience of COVID-19 led to increased feelings of fear and anxiety, which in turn was associated with belief in conspiracy theories ( Jutzi et al, 2020 ), providing evidence for threat salience as an antecedent of later conspiracy belief. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs have also been associated with greater anxiety more broadly ( Hartman et al, 2021 ; Kim and Kim, 2021 ; Radnitz and Hsiao, 2020 ; Sallam et al, 2020a , 2020b ; Šrol et al, 2021 , 2022 ). Similarly, risk perception, including both infection-related risks and consequence-related anxiety, was a consistent predictor of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs ( Kim and Kim, 2021 ; Pizarro et al, 2020 ).…”

“…People who believe in the artificial origin of COVID-19 report a greater willingness to penalize China and less support for biomedical research of zoonotic viruses ( Bolsen et al, 2020 ). Overall, pandemics like the COVID-19 pandemic can give rise to intergroup fractures, visible in prejudice, social and economic inequality, xenophobia, racism, extremism, and violence ( Abrams et al, 2021 ) - which are intertwined with belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories ( Hardy, 2020 ; Jaiswal et al, 2020 ; Levinsson et al, 2021 ; Marone, 2021 ; Šrol et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Moreover, since the spread of the theory that COVID-19 is caused or spread by 5G technologies, there have been numerous public demonstrations, documented cases of abuse of technicians at mobile phone towers, and arsons ( Meese et al, 2020 ). More specifically, higher levels of justification and willingness to engage in violence, such as setting cell phone towers ablaze ( Jolley and Paterson, 2020 ), or participating in violent anti-government protests ( Šrol et al, 2022 ), was associated with greater anger, linked to generic COVID-19 and 5G COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. Generic COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were furthermore related to higher sympathy for violent radicalization among Canadian young adults, especially those with higher reported levels of psychological distress ( Levinsson et al, 2021 ).…”

Knowledge of Human Monkeypox and Its Relation to Conspiracy Beliefs among Students in Jordanian Health Schools: Filling the Knowledge Gap on Emerging Zoonotic Viruses

“…The widespread prevalence of conspiracy beliefs was manifested amid the COVID-19 pandemic with suggested negative psychological, social, and health impacts [ 59 , 60 , 61 ]. Specifically, our previous research has shown that the belief in the manmade origin of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the endorsement of the notion that COVID-19 is part of a biologic warfare, was associated with higher anxiety levels among the general public and among university students in Jordan [ 47 , 48 ].…”