The Crippled Epistemology of Extremism

Hardin, Russell

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511550478.002

Cited by 145 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…(Greenberg & Jonas, 2003). Hardin (2002) notes that extremists are "epistemologically crippled", in the sense that the main sources of information about political issues they trust, come from their own milieu, whereas outside sources that offer more nuanced perspective tend to be ignored. Put differently, extremists only receive or trust information about socio-political issues that was provided by other extremists.…”

Section: Conspiracy Beliefs and Extreme Political Ideologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does extreme political ideology predict conspiracy beliefs, economic evaluations and political trust? Evidence from Sweden

Krouwel¹,

Kutiyski²,

Prooijen

et al. 2017

J. Soc. Polit. Psych.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A large volume of academic research has demonstrated that individuals who profess radical political ideology, both left-and right-wing, tend to share similar underlying psychological patterns. By utilizing data collected through a voting advice application in Sweden, this study aims to assess whether extreme leftists and rightists share similarities in the psychological and political understanding of how society functions. We propose three hypotheses to test this pattern: Extreme left and right individuals are more inclined to believe in conspiracy theories than moderates; they are more likely to have negative economic evaluations; and they are less politically and interpersonally trustful. By means of hierarchical regression analyses, we reveal a quadratic relationship between extreme political ideology and conspiracy beliefs. Moreover, we find a similar linkage between ideology and economic evaluations. However, the empirical analyses fail to provide evidence that extreme ideology is related to lower political and interpersonal trust.Keywords: political ideology, economic evaluations, trust, conspiracy belief, extremism Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2017, Vol. 5(2), 435-462, doi:10.5964/jspp.v5i2.745 Received: 2016-12-08. Accepted: 2017-09-10. Published (VoR): 2017-10-28.Handling Editor: Małgorzata Kossowska, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland *Corresponding author at: Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 334 2 1012 RW Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: andre.krouwel@vu.nl This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Throughout the 20 th century, radical political ideologies served as the propeller of tragic events that have left a deep mark in human history (Baumeister, 1997;Midlarsky, 2011). Movements of the radical right, such as Fascism and Nazism, were ideologically driven to commit unimaginable crimes against humanity which resulted in the death of millions. On the left, communist regimes in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states, as well as in numerous Asian countries were responsible for comparable atrocities. Even though there are substantial differences between these ideologies, political psychologists have noted that extreme left-and right-wing ideologies may share a similar underlying psychological pattern (Greenberg & Jonas, 2003). In order to assess whether rigid devotion to extreme political ideology on both the left and the right corresponds to a similar psychological under- jspp.psychopen.eu | 2195-3325 standing of the world, it is necessary to compare radical individuals and test if their comprehension of the functioning of society is identical. Journal of Social and Political PsychologyAlthough extremist regimes of the past are in many ways hard to compare to political actors that are considered relatively extreme in the current politi...

show abstract

Section: Conspiracy Beliefs and Extreme Political Ideologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does extreme political ideology predict conspiracy beliefs, economic evaluations and political trust? Evidence from Sweden

Krouwel¹,

Kutiyski²,

Prooijen

et al. 2017

J. Soc. Polit. Psych.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Consistent with this view, a number of scholars have highlighted the important role played by external sources of information in the acceptance of CTs (Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009). For example, in his work on extremism, Hardin (2002) argued that individuals often suffer from 'crippled epistemologies', that is, they have very little direct or relevant information about a phenomenon and what little information they do have is supported by their extremist views.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lunar Lies: The Impact of Informational Framing and Individual Differences in Shaping Conspiracist Beliefs About the Moon Landings

Swami

Pietschnig

Tran

et al. 2012

Applied Cognitive Psychology

114

122

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two studies examined the role of informational framing and individual differences on acceptance of the moon landings conspiracy theory (CT). In Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups in which they were exposed to different forms of information about the moon landings CT. Results showed that information critical of the moon landings CT resulted in attenuated conspiracist beliefs and that information supportive of the CT resulted in stronger conspiracist beliefs. In addition, stronger belief in the moon landings CT was associated with participants' belief in other CTs and openness to experience. In Study 2, participants completed a survey measuring their belief in the moon landings CT and a range of individual difference factors. Results showed that acceptance of the moon landings CT was associated with the adoption of a conspiracist worldview and schizotypal tendencies. Possibilities for conceptualizing the functional roles played by CTs are discussed. Copyright

show abstract

“…He believed that conspiracy theories offered a voice for the powerless or disadvantaged, particularly during episodes of crisis for which mainstream accounts are erroneous or unreliable (see also Leman, 2007;Miller, 2002;Whitson & Galinsky, 2008). In such scenarios, conspiracy theories offer alternative explanations to individuals seeking to understand events that are confusing or poorly explained by mainstream sources of information (Hardin, 2002;Kramer, 1998;Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009;Zarefsky, 1984).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Conspiracist Beliefs About the Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

Swami

Furnham

2012

The Journal of General Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous studies have suggested that conspiracist ideation forms part of a monological belief system in which one conspiracist idea acts as evidence for new conspiracist ideas. Here, we examined this possibility in relation to an event lacking reliable or conclusive evidence, namely the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. A total of 914 members of the British general public completed scales measuring their beliefs about the disappearance of Earhart and Noonan, belief in conspiracy theories, the Big Five personality factors, support for democratic principles, political cynicism, self-esteem, and self-assessed intelligence. Results showed that belief in conspiracy theories was associated with the endorsement of less plausible explanations for the disappearance of Earhart and Noonan. In addition, belief in less plausible explanations was also significantly associated with lower self-assessed intelligence, greater political cynicism, lower self-esteem, and higher Agreeableness scores. These results are discussed in relation to monological belief systems.

show abstract

The Crippled Epistemology of Extremism

Cited by 145 publications

References 0 publications

Does extreme political ideology predict conspiracy beliefs, economic evaluations and political trust? Evidence from Sweden

Does extreme political ideology predict conspiracy beliefs, economic evaluations and political trust? Evidence from Sweden

Lunar Lies: The Impact of Informational Framing and Individual Differences in Shaping Conspiracist Beliefs About the Moon Landings

Examining Conspiracist Beliefs About the Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About