In the coronavirus "infodemic", people are exposed to both official recommendations and to potentially dangerous pseudoscientific advice claimed to protect against COVID-19. We examined whether irrational beliefs predict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines as well as susceptibility to such misinformation. Irrational beliefs were indexed by cognitive intuition, Type I error cognitive biases, COVID-19 knowledge overestimation, and belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Participants (N=407) reported (a) how often they followed guidelines (e.g., handwashing), (b) how often they engaged in pseudoscientific practices (e.g., consuming garlic, colloidal silver), and (c) their intention to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Conspiratorial beliefs consistently predicted all three outcomes. Cognitive intuition and knowledge overestimation predicted lesser, while cognitive biases predicted greater adherence to guidelines. Cognitive intuition and cognitive biases predicted greater use of pseudoscientific practices. Our results highlight the irrational beliefs predictive of COVID-19 related health behaviors, with conspiracy theories proving to be the most detrimental.

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In the coronavirus “infodemic”, people are exposed to both official recommendations and to potentially dangerous pseudoscientific advice claimed to protect against COVID-19. We examined whether irrational beliefs predict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines as well as susceptibility to such misinformation. Irrational beliefs were indexed by cognitive intuition, Type I error cognitive biases, COVID-19 knowledge overestimation, and belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Participants (N=407) reported (a) how often they followed guidelines (e.g., handwashing), (b) how often they engaged in pseudoscientific practices (e.g., consuming garlic, colloidal silver), and (c) their intention to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Conspiratorial beliefs consistently predicted all three outcomes. Cognitive intuition and knowledge overestimation predicted lesser, while cognitive biases predicted greater adherence to guidelines. Cognitive intuition and cognitive biases predicted greater use of pseudoscientific practices. Our results highlight the irrational beliefs predictive of COVID-19 related health behaviors, with conspiracy theories proving to be the most detrimental.

The study aimed to investigate the role of personality, thinking styles, and conspiracy mentality in health-related behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., recommended health behaviors according to COVID-19 guidelines and engagement in pseudoscientific practices related to COVID-19. Basic personality space was defined by the HEXACO model complemented by Disintegration, which represents psychotic-like experiences and behaviors reconceptualized as a personality trait. Mediation analyses conducted on a convenient sample from the general population recruited via social media and by snowballing (N = 417) showed that engagement in pseudoscientific behaviors was predicted by high Disintegration. However, this relationship was entirely mediated by high experiential and low rational thinking styles. Adherence to health practices recommended by COVID-19 guidelines was predicted by high Honesty traits, while low Disintegration had both direct and indirect effects through conspiracy mentality.

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