The dark side of social movements: social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories

Abstract

CitationSternisko, A., Cichocka, A. & Van Bavel, J. J. (in press). The dark side of social movements: Social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories. Current Opinion in Psychology. AcknowledgementsWe thank members of the Social Identity and Morality Lab for valuable feedback on a previous version of this article. We thank our research assistants Sahar Hafezi and Akiva Thalheim for their help with literature research and proofreading the article. AbstractSocial change does not always equal social progress--there is a dark side of social movements.We discuss conspiracy theory beliefs -beliefs that a powerful group of people are secretly working towards a malicious goal-as one contributor to destructive social movements. Research has linked conspiracy theory beliefs to anti-democratic attitudes, prejudice and non-normative political behavior. We propose a framework to understand the motivational processes behind conspiracy theories and associated social identities and collective action. We argue that conspiracy theories comprise at least two components -content and qualities-that appeal to people differently based on their motivations. Social identity motives draw people foremost to contents of conspiracy theories while uniqueness motives draw people to qualities of conspiracy

The different forms of COVID-19 misinformation and their consequences

“…Moreover, numerous pieces of misinformation have gained traction (e.g., Bridgman et al, 2020), including false claims about the medicinal properties of disinfectants, hydroxychloroquine, and ultraviolet light. While it is true that similar forces tend to promote belief in conspiracy theories and misinformation (Enders & Smallpage, 2019), the specific content of each conspiracy theory and piece of misinformation is likely to attract its own set of adherents (Sternisko et al, 2020). The burgeoning literature on COVID-19 beliefs hints that there may be a structure to these dubious ideas, as they seem to vary in their content (Brennen et al, 2020), causal antecedents (Cassese et al, 2020;Uscinski et al, 2020), popularity (Miller, 2020), and behavioral and attitudinal consequences (Imhoff & Lamberty, 2020;Jolley & Paterson, 2020).…”

Just world beliefs, personal success and beliefs in conspiracy theories

“…the belief in CTs. This is indeed a common finding in the literature which has driven researchers to seek out yet more individual difference or sociological variables that correlate more highly and explain more of the variance (Douglas et al, 2017;Sternisko, Cichocka, & Van Bavel, 2020). So far, none have succeeded very well, though all sorts of variables have been considered from personality traits and disorders to ideological beliefs (Douglas et al, 2017) Part of the problem however may lie in the measurement of the CTs.…”

Protest Perspective Against COVID-19 Risk Mitigation Strategies on the German Internet

“…4, 7, [22]) and is just observing the movements dominated mainly by farright organizations. It is important to monitor the anti-COVID movement [26] due to a rare presence of common interests of the right wing of AfD with Green or liberal movements (Fig. 4).…”

“…Spread of SARS-CoV-2 is mediated by human behavior and it impacts human lives not only in medical, but also in economic or social dimensions [16]. There have been protests and demonstrations around the world [26] against risk mitigation strategies during COVID-19 pandemics such as lockdowns and mandatory mask wearing. German government is longitudinally monitoring public opinion to assess optimal epidemiological effectiveness and acceptance of measures and policies during the COVID-19 pandemic [5].…”