Belief in conspiracy theories: The influence of uncertainty and perceived morality

Prooijen, Jan‐Willem van; Jostmann, Nils B.

doi:10.1002/ejsp.1922

Cited by 272 publications

(259 citation statements)

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“…Empirical findings confirm these ideas. For instance, experimental conditions that induce a lack of control or uncertainty increase belief in conspiracies as compared to other conditions (Newheiser, Farias, & Tausch, 2011;Sullivan, Landau, & Rothschild, 2010;van Prooijen & Acker, 2015;van Prooijen & Jostmann, 2013;Whitson & Galinsky, 2008). This implies that conspiracy theories provide epistemic clarity by explaining events through an array of explicit presumptions about the functioning of the world.…”

Section: Conspiracy Beliefs and Extreme Political Ideologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does extreme political ideology predict conspiracy beliefs, economic evaluations and political trust? Evidence from Sweden

Krouwel¹,

Kutiyski²,

Prooijen

et al. 2017

J. Soc. Polit. Psych.

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101

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A large volume of academic research has demonstrated that individuals who profess radical political ideology, both left-and right-wing, tend to share similar underlying psychological patterns. By utilizing data collected through a voting advice application in Sweden, this study aims to assess whether extreme leftists and rightists share similarities in the psychological and political understanding of how society functions. We propose three hypotheses to test this pattern: Extreme left and right individuals are more inclined to believe in conspiracy theories than moderates; they are more likely to have negative economic evaluations; and they are less politically and interpersonally trustful. By means of hierarchical regression analyses, we reveal a quadratic relationship between extreme political ideology and conspiracy beliefs. Moreover, we find a similar linkage between ideology and economic evaluations. However, the empirical analyses fail to provide evidence that extreme ideology is related to lower political and interpersonal trust.Keywords: political ideology, economic evaluations, trust, conspiracy belief, extremism Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2017, Vol. 5(2), 435-462, doi:10.5964/jspp.v5i2.745 Received: 2016-12-08. Accepted: 2017-09-10. Published (VoR): 2017-10-28.Handling Editor: Małgorzata Kossowska, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland *Corresponding author at: Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 334 2 1012 RW Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: andre.krouwel@vu.nl This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Throughout the 20 th century, radical political ideologies served as the propeller of tragic events that have left a deep mark in human history (Baumeister, 1997;Midlarsky, 2011). Movements of the radical right, such as Fascism and Nazism, were ideologically driven to commit unimaginable crimes against humanity which resulted in the death of millions. On the left, communist regimes in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states, as well as in numerous Asian countries were responsible for comparable atrocities. Even though there are substantial differences between these ideologies, political psychologists have noted that extreme left-and right-wing ideologies may share a similar underlying psychological pattern (Greenberg & Jonas, 2003). In order to assess whether rigid devotion to extreme political ideology on both the left and the right corresponds to a similar psychological under- jspp.psychopen.eu | 2195-3325 standing of the world, it is necessary to compare radical individuals and test if their comprehension of the functioning of society is identical. Journal of Social and Political PsychologyAlthough extremist regimes of the past are in many ways hard to compare to political actors that are considered relatively extreme in the current politi...

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Section: Conspiracy Beliefs and Extreme Political Ideologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does extreme political ideology predict conspiracy beliefs, economic evaluations and political trust? Evidence from Sweden

Krouwel¹,

Kutiyski²,

Prooijen

et al. 2017

J. Soc. Polit. Psych.

Self Cite

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, very little is known about the effect of situational factors on belief in conspiracy theories (but see van Prooijen & Jostmann, 2013). In the spirit to fill this gap, this study aimed at explaining the belief in conspiracy theories on the basis of two situational factors: intergroup threat and social identity salience.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of intergroup threat and social identity salience on the belief in conspiracy theories over terrorism in indonesia: collective angst as a mediator

Mashuri

Zaduqisti²

2015

Int. j. psychol. res.

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The present study tested how intergroup threat (high versus low) and social identity as a Muslim (salient versus non-salient) affected belief in conspiracy theories. Data among Indonesian Muslim students (N = 139) from this study demonstrated that intergroup threat and social identity salience interacted to influence belief in conspiracy theories. High intergroup threat triggered greater belief in conspiracy theories than low intergroup threat, more prominently in the condition in which participants' Muslim identity was made salient. Collective angst also proved to mediate the effect of intergroup threat on the belief. However, in line with the prediction, evidence of this mediation effect of collective angst was only on the salient social identity condition. Discussions on these research findings build on both theoretical and practical implications. RESUMENEl presente estudio examinó cómo la amenaza intergrupal (alta versus baja) y la identidad social como musulmán (saliente versus no saliente), afecta la creencia en teorías de conspiración. Los datos entre los estudiantes Musulmanes de Indonesia en este estudio, (N = 139) mostraron que la amenaza intergrupal y la saliencia de la identidad social, interactúan para influenciar creencias en teorías de conspiración. La amenaza intergrupal alta produjo mayor creencia en teorías de conspiración en comparación con la amenaza intergrupal baja, esta condición se presentó de manera más prominente en los participantes en donde la identidad musulmana se hizo saliente. La angustia colectiva también contribuyo a mediar el efecto de la amenaza intergrupal en la creencia; no obstante, de acuerdo con la predicción, la evidencia de este efecto de mediación de la angustia colectiva fue sólo con la condición de identidad social saliente. Las discusiones sobre estos resultados de la investigación se basan en dos implicaciones teóricas y prácticas. El efecto de la amenaza intergrupal y la identidad social saliente en la creencia en teorías de conspiración sobre el terrorismo en Indonesia: la angustia colectiva como un mediador Indonesia: la angustia colectiva como un mediador.

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“…Multidisciplinary scholars (e.g., Bale, 2007;Clarke, 2002;Miller, 2002) have pointed-out that the primary motive of people to believe in the conspiracy theory is their desire to explain events that are uncertain and complicated to comprehend. Thus, belief in a conspiracy theory is a mental sense-making processes aimed at seeing the world as simple and predictable (van Prooijen & Jostmann, 2013;Park, 2010). Religious groups are very entitative compared to other groups in that they provide structures such as distinctive dress, religious rituals, and collective prayer routines that permeate life and validate social identity (Hogg, Adelman, & Blagg, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These multiple conspiring actors are so often particularly connected to legitimate power holders or institutions in society (Robins & Post, 1997;van Prooijen & Jostmann, 2013). On one side, in explaining belief in conspiracy theory, there are well-documented literatures that have examined the effect of personal factors such as political powerlessness, attribution, and self-esteem (Crocker, Broadnax, & Blaine, 1999), big five personality (Swami, Chamorro-Premuzic, & Furnham, 2010), right-wing authoritarianism (Grzesiak-Feldman & Irzycka, 2009), anomie, locus of control, and hostility (Abalakina-Paap, Stephan, Craig, & Gregory, 1999).…”

Section: Belief In Conspiracy Theory: An Intergroup Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

The role of social identification, intergroup threat, and out-group derogation in explaining belief in conspiracy theory about terrorism in Indonesia

Mashuri¹,

Zaduqisti²

2013

IJRSP

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This current research was to give new insight into group-based variables that frame belief in conspiracy about terrorism in Indonesia. Results (N = 201) showed that social identification with Moslem was positively related to out-group derogation to the Western people and to the belief that these people have conspired to instigate terrorism in Indonesia. We also demonstrated that, in line with prediction, the effect of social identification on out-group derogation and belief in conspiracy theory held only when participants perceived the Western people as highly threatening Islamic identity. This perceived intergroup threat also structured the mediation role of out-group derogation. More specifically, we hypothesized and found that out-group derogation mediated the effect of social identification on belief in the conspiracy theory, only when Moslem participants perceived the Western people as highly threatening their Islamic identity. We discussed these findings in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

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Belief in conspiracy theories: The influence of uncertainty and perceived morality

Cited by 272 publications

References 38 publications

Does extreme political ideology predict conspiracy beliefs, economic evaluations and political trust? Evidence from Sweden

Does extreme political ideology predict conspiracy beliefs, economic evaluations and political trust? Evidence from Sweden

The effect of intergroup threat and social identity salience on the belief in conspiracy theories over terrorism in indonesia: collective angst as a mediator

The role of social identification, intergroup threat, and out-group derogation in explaining belief in conspiracy theory about terrorism in Indonesia

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