Perceived stress has previously been implicated in the belief of conspiracies, with some authors suggesting that stress can precipitate increased belief in conspiracy theories. This preregistered survey study aimed to replicate findings by Swami et al. (2016) showing a positive correlation between belief in conspiracy theories and perceived stress. 372 Australian and New Zealand residents participated. Beliefs in conspiracy theories were measured using 11 items drawn mainly from existing scales (α = .87). Perceived stress was measured using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; α = .91). The average level of endorsement of conspiracy theories was relatively low (M = 1.89 on a Likert scale from 1 to 5; SD = 0.72). Supporting our hypothesis, we found a significant and positive correlation between perceived stress and belief in conspiracy theories, r(370) = .20, p = .001, 95% CI [.096, .292]. Future work could investigate the causal mechanism producing this association.
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