There are Higher Levels of Conspiracy Beliefs in More Corrupt Countries

Abstract

In three studies, I found evidence that people living in less socially inclusive countries (operationalized as having weaker rule of law, and lack of equality and press freedom) have a greater tendency for conspiracy ideation. In Study 1 (21 countries, N = 22,238), participants in less inclusive countries were more likely to believe in conspiracies, even after adjusting for country-level differences in educational performance. Study 2 (24 countries, N = 4,743) and Study 3 (23 countries, N = 5,726) replicated this result by using individual-level education status and scientific literacy as covariates, respectively. The associations between inclusiveness and conspiracy beliefs was stronger for people with higher levels of educational attainment and scientific literacy. I argue that this is because real conspiracies are more likely to actually happen in less inclusive contexts; thus, it is more rational to have increased levels of suspicion of secret and hostile alliances in such countries.

Suspecting Foul Play When It Is Objectively There: The Association of Political Orientation with General and Partisan Conspiracy Beliefs as a Function of Corruption Levels

“…There is further evidence that conspiracy beliefs might be more reasonable in contexts with high risk of being under threat. In a recent study, it was found that the negative correlation between education and conspiracy beliefs is weaker in high corruption countries, as compared to low corruption ones (Alper, 2021). One potential explanation is that being suspicious of potential conspiracies is relatively more reasonable in high corruption contexts, and thus even highly educated people find them more plausible, which renders education status less influential in predicting conspiracy beliefs (Alper, 2021).…”

“…Each conspiracy theory, regardless of whether it is about evil scientists, shape-shifting aliens, or a secret society, functions as a "wake-up call" for people that are about to be harmed by an illintentioned outgroup, given that the theory is correct. Recent research suggested that certain social factors, including but not limited to corruption (Alper, 2021;Alper, Douglas et al, 2021) and inequality (Casara et al, 2022) could be triggering conspiracy beliefs since the perceived discrepancy in outcomescould be seen as signs of being exploited by outgroups. In this paper, we make use of a large, multisite dataset (23 countries, N > 20,000; Imhoff, Zimmer et al, 2022) to analyze how country-level corruption predicts conspiracy beliefs among people with right-wing and left-wing political orientations.…”

“…The probability of making these errors is also likely to vary across different contexts. In countries with high corruption, for example, the expectation of secretive alliances is relatively more plausible since "actual conspiracies" (e.g., nepotism, bribery, censorship) frequently happen in these contexts (Alper, 2021). Similarly, both correlational and experimental evidence suggest a link between inequality and conspiracy beliefs and this link is mediated by the perception that there is a social dysfunction and chaos (Casara et al, 2022).…”

“…Precarity (job insecurity) similarly relates to conspiracy beliefs and people with lower sense of security have higher conspiracy beliefs due to their lower level of trust for institutions (Adam-Troian et al, 2021). In places with higher corruption, inequality, and/or precarity, belief in conspiracy theories cannot be considered as being detached from reality, since the probability of being under threat is arguably higher in these contexts (Alper, 2021). Thus, believing in the existence of a conspiracy is not necessarily the result of inner needs (Douglas et al, 2017), but can also be interpreted as more or less valid detection of actual signals (Imhoff, 2022).…”

How Are Conspiracy Beliefs Associated with Generosity?

“…Recently, lack of trust in media (Bruder & Kunert, 2021;Lockyer et al, 2021;Su et al, 2021), government and public health institutions (Bruder & Kunert, 2021;De Coninck et al, 2021;Kim & Kim, 2021;Pummerer et al, 2021), and science (Constantinou et al, 2020;Eberl et al, 2021;Erceg et al, 2020) have also been shown to play a key role in fostering conspiracy beliefs about the origins of COVID-19. A large-scale cross-country comparison showed that in countries where people find fewer reasons to trust institutions (e.g., countries that lack rule of law), there are significantly higher levels of COVID-19-related and general conspiracy beliefs (Alper, 2021).…”