“…This is often the case with events which have natural causes without agency but are of great social significance. For example, COVID-19 (Van Bavel et al, 2020), the Zika virus (Kadri & Trapp-Petty, 2016;Klofstad et al, 2019), Ebola virus (Falade & Coultas, 2017;Abramowitz et al, 2017;Coltart et al, 2017) and the Bubonic plague (Alcabes 2009;Brotherton, 2015) all have associated conspiracy theories which explain pandemics as the result of the actions of intentional agents rather than as natural occurrences. Further, studies have found a positive correlation between the tendency to attribute agency to inanimate objects and belief in a range of conspiracy theories (Douglas et al, 2016;Imhoff & Bruder, 2014).…”