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Journal ArticleDOI

Conspiracist ideation in Britain and Austria: Evidence of a monological belief system and associations between individual psychological differences and real-world and fictitious conspiracy theories

TL;DR: Examination of correlations between conspiracist ideation and a range of individual psychological factors showed that belief in the entirely fictitious conspiracy theory was significantly associated with stronger belief in other real-world conspiracy theories, stronger paranormal beliefs, and lower crystallized intelligence.
Abstract: Despite evidence of widespread belief in conspiracy theories, there remains a dearth of research on the individual difference correlates of conspiracist ideation. In two studies, we sought to overcome this limitation by examining correlations between conspiracist ideation and a range of individual psychological factors. In Study 1, 817 Britons indicated their agreement with conspiracist ideation concerning the July 7, 2005 (7/7), London bombings, and completed a battery of individual difference scales. Results showed that stronger belief in 7/7 conspiracy theories was predicted by stronger belief in other real-world conspiracy theories, greater exposure to conspiracist ideation, higher political cynicism, greater support for democratic principles, more negative attitudes to authority, lower self-esteem, and lower Agreeableness. In Study 2, 281 Austrians indicated their agreement with an entirely fictitious conspiracy theory and completed a battery of individual difference measures not examined in Study 1. Results showed that belief in the entirely fictitious conspiracy theory was significantly associated with stronger belief in other real-world conspiracy theories, stronger paranormal beliefs, and lower crystallized intelligence. These results are discussed in terms of the potential of identifying individual difference constellations among conspiracy theorists.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A clear link between susceptibility to misinformation and both vaccine hesitancy and a reduced likelihood to comply with health guidance measures is demonstrated, and interventions which aim to improve critical thinking and trust in science may be a promising avenue for future research.
Abstract: Misinformation about COVID-19 is a major threat to public health. Using five national samples from the UK (n = 1050 and n = 1150), Ireland (n = 700), the USA (n = 700), Spain (n = 700) and Mexico (n = 700), we examine predictors of belief in the most common statements about the virus that contain misinformation. We also investigate the prevalence of belief in COVID-19 misinformation across different countries and the role of belief in such misinformation in predicting relevant health behaviours. We find that while public belief in misinformation about COVID-19 is not particularly common, a substantial proportion views this type of misinformation as highly reliable in each country surveyed. In addition, a small group of participants find common factual information about the virus highly unreliable. We also find that increased susceptibility to misinformation negatively affects people's self-reported compliance with public health guidance about COVID-19, as well as people's willingness to get vaccinated against the virus and to recommend the vaccine to vulnerable friends and family. Across all countries surveyed, we find that higher trust in scientists and having higher numeracy skills were associated with lower susceptibility to coronavirus-related misinformation. Taken together, these results demonstrate a clear link between susceptibility to misinformation and both vaccine hesitancy and a reduced likelihood to comply with health guidance measures, and suggest that interventions which aim to improve critical thinking and trust in science may be a promising avenue for future research.

797 citations


Cites background from "Conspiracist ideation in Britain an..."

  • ...Importantly, scholars have found that COVID-19 conspiracies form a ‘monological belief system’, where belief in one conspiracy about the virus predicts belief in others [44,45]....

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  • ...The strong correlations observed between these statements also support the idea that belief in misinformation about COVID-19 can be seen as a ‘monological belief system’ where belief in one conspiracy correlates with belief in others [31,44,45]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that half of the American public consistently endorses at least one conspiracy theory and that many popular conspiracy theories are differentiated along ideological and anomic dimensions, and that the likelihood of supporting conspiracy theories is strongly predicted by a willingness to believe in other unseen, intentional forces and an attraction to Manichean narratives.
Abstract: Although conspiracy theories have long been a staple of American political culture, no research has systematically examined the nature of their support in the mass public. Using four nationally representative surveys, sampled between 2006 and 2011, we find that half of the American public consistently endorses at least one conspiracy theory and that many popular conspiracy theories are differentiated along ideological and anomic dimensions. In contrast with many theoretical speculations, we do not find conspiracism to be a product of greater authoritarianism, ignorance, or political conservatism. Rather, the likelihood of supporting conspiracy theories is strongly predicted by a willingness to believe in other unseen, intentional forces and an attraction to Manichean narratives. These findings both demonstrate the widespread allure of conspiracy theories as political explanations and offer new perspectives on the forces that shape mass opinion and American political culture.

483 citations


Cites background from "Conspiracist ideation in Britain an..."

  • ...…authoritarianism, selfesteem, cynicism, and agreeableness (Abalakina-Paap et al. 1999; Darwin et al. 2011; Douglas and Sutton 2008; Goertzel 1999; Swami et al., 2011), but these studies have severe data limitations and their findings remain inconclusive.4 After testing many of these…...

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  • ...…data limitations and their findings remain inconclusive.4 After testing many of these predispositions in studies of British and Austrian subjects, Swami et al. (2011) arrive at the seemingly tautological conclusion that “the strongest predictor of whether or not an individual will ultimately…...

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  • ..., Douglas and Sutton 2008) or, if based on surveys (Goertzel 1999; Swami et al. 2011), they are not representative samples or do not control for a host of important factors such as age, education, race, political interest, and knowledge....

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  • ...esteem, cynicism, and agreeableness (Abalakina-Paap et al. 1999; Darwin et al. 2011; Douglas and Sutton 2008; Goertzel 1999; Swami et al., 2011), but these studies have severe data limitations and their findings remain inconclusive....

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  • ...…is because such studies are either based on undergraduate populations (e.g., Douglas and Sutton 2008) or, if based on surveys (Goertzel 1999; Swami et al. 2011), they are not representative samples or do not control for a host of important factors such as age, education, race, political…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The research indicates that the GCB is a psychometrically sound and practically useful measure of conspiracist ideation, and the findings add to the theoretical understanding of conspiracists ideation as a monological belief system unpinned by a relatively small number of generic assumptions about the typicality of conspiratorial activity in the world.
Abstract: The psychology of conspiracy theory beliefs is not yet well understood, although research indicates that there are stable individual differences in conspiracist ideation – individuals’ general tendency to engage with conspiracy theories. Researchers have created several short self-report measures of conspiracist ideation. These measures largely consist of items referring to an assortment of prominent conspiracy theories regarding specific real-world events. However, these instruments have not been psychometrically validated, and this assessment approach suffers from practical and theoretical limitations. Therefore, we present the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs (GCB) scale: a novel measure of individual differences in generic conspiracist ideation. The scale was developed and validated across four studies. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis of a novel 75-item measure of non-event-based conspiracist beliefs identified five conspiracist facets. The 15-item GCB scale was developed to sample from each of these themes. Studies 2, 3, and 4 examined the structure and validity of the GCB, demonstrating internal reliability, content, criterion-related, convergent and discriminant validity, and good test-retest reliability. In sum, this research indicates that the GCB is a psychometrically sound and practically useful measure of conspiracist ideation, and the findings add to our theoretical understanding of conspiracist ideation as a monological belief system unpinned by a relatively small number of generic assumptions about the typicality of conspiratorial activity in the world.

463 citations


Cites background or methods or result from "Conspiracist ideation in Britain an..."

  • ...While there is evidence that conspiracist ideation is a unidimensional construct (Goertzel, 1994; Swami et al., 2011; Wood et al., 2012), the content validity of short and potentially unrepresentative measures has thus far gone untested....

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  • ...Weak but significant relationships have been reported with higher openness and lower agreeableness, however some studies have failed to replicate these relationships (see Swami et al., 2010, 2011, 2013; Swami and Furnham, 2012)....

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  • ...…largely examining the role of individual differences in broad personality traits and cognitive styles (e.g., Goertzel, 1994; McHoskey, 1995; Abalakina-Paap et al., 1999; Leman and Cinnirella, 2007; Douglas and Sutton, 2008, 2011; Swami et al., 2010, 2011, 2013; Darwin et al., 2011; Swami, 2012)....

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  • ...Belief in fictitious Red Bull conspiracy theories (Swami et al., 2011) was measured using a scale consisting of 12 items covering a range of novel conspiracy theories regarding the energy drink Red Bull (α= 0....

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  • ...Belief in fictitious Red Bull conspiracy theories (Swami et al., 2011) was measured using a scale consisting of 12 items covering a range of novel conspiracy theories regarding the energy drink Red Bull (α= 0.90; e.g., “Red Bull contains illegal substances that raise the desire for the product”)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A survey of climate-blog visitors identifies the variables underlying acceptance and rejection of climate science and provides empirical support for previous suggestions that conspiratorial thinking contributes to the rejection of science.
Abstract: Although nearly all domain experts agree that carbon dioxide emissions are altering the world's climate, segments of the public remain unconvinced by the scientific evidence. Internet blogs have become a platform for denial of climate change, and bloggers have taken a prominent role in questioning climate science. We report a survey of climate-blog visitors to identify the variables underlying acceptance and rejection of climate science. Our findings parallel those of previous work and show that endorsement of free-market economics predicted rejection of climate science. Endorsement of free markets also predicted the rejection of other established scientific findings, such as the facts that HIV causes AIDS and that smoking causes lung cancer. We additionally show that, above and beyond endorsement of free markets, endorsement of a cluster of conspiracy theories (e.g., that the Federal Bureau of Investigation killed Martin Luther King, Jr.) predicted rejection of climate science as well as other scientific findings. Our results provide empirical support for previous suggestions that conspiratorial thinking contributes to the rejection of science. Acceptance of science, by contrast, was strongly associated with the perception of a consensus among scientists.

436 citations


Cites background from "Conspiracist ideation in Britain an..."

  • ...Swami et al. (2011) were able to induce belief in an entirely fictitious conspiracy theory involving a popular soft drink (e.g., that the drink “raises dopamine levels”), especially among participants who already held other conspiratorial views....

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  • ...Our results identify conspiracist ideation as a personality factor or cognitive style, as numerous conspiracy theories are captured by a single latent construct (cf. Goertzel, 1994; Swami et al., 2009; Swami et al., 2011)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ) is presented, an instrument designed to efficiently assess differences in the generic tendency to engage in conspiracist ideation within and across cultures and predicted beliefs in specific conspiracy theories over and above other individual difference measures.
Abstract: Conspiracy theories are ubiquitous when it comes to explaining political events and societal phenomena. Individuals differ not only in the degree to which they believe in specific conspiracy theories, but also in their general susceptibility to explanations based on such theories, that is, their conspiracy mentality. We present the Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ), an instrument designed to efficiently assess differences in the generic tendency to engage in conspiracist ideation within and across cultures. The CMQ is available in English, German, and Turkish. In four studies, we examined the CMQ’s factorial structure, reliability, measurement equivalence across cultures, and its convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. Analyses based on a cross-cultural sample (Study 1a; N = 7,766) supported the conceptualization of conspiracy mentality as a one-dimensional construct across the three language versions of the CMQ that is stable across time (Study 1b; N = 141). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated cross-cultural measurement equivalence of the CMQ items. The instrument could therefore be used to examine differences in conspiracy mentality between European, North American, and Middle Eastern cultures. In Studies 2-4 (total N = 476), we report (re-)analyses of 3 datasets demonstrating the validity of the CMQ in student and working population samples in the UK and Germany. First, attesting to its convergent validity, the CMQ was highly correlated with another measure of generic conspiracy belief. Second, the CMQ showed patterns of meaningful associations with personality measures (e.g., Big Five dimensions, schizotypy), other generalized political attitudes (e.g., social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism), and further individual differences (e.g., paranormal belief, lack of socio-political control). Finally, the CMQ predicted beliefs in specific conspiracy theories over and above other individual difference measures.

434 citations

References
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Posted Content
TL;DR: The Satisfaction With Life Scale is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness, but is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability.
Abstract: This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.

21,449 citations

Book
21 Apr 1965

21,050 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) as mentioned in this paper is a scale to measure global life satisfaction, which does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness, and has favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability.
Abstract: This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is Suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.

20,751 citations

01 Jan 2007

18,170 citations


"Conspiracist ideation in Britain an..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...The significance of Bartlett’s test of sphericity, 2(66) = 1264.44, p .001, and the size of the KaiserMeyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, KMO = .90, showed that the 12 items had adequate common variance for factor analysis (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007)....

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  • ...The significance of Bartlett’s test of sphericity, 2(66) = 7257.07, p .001, and the size of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, KMO = .92, showed that the 12 items had adequate common variance for factor analysis (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007)....

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Journal ArticleDOI

16,312 citations


"Conspiracist ideation in Britain an..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) Self-esteem was measured using the widely used RSES, a 10-item scale that taps selfworth....

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  • ...Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) This scale was identical to the one used in Study 1, with the exception of coding (0 = strongly disagree, 3 = strongly agree)....

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