How social identity shapes conspiratorial belief

Robertson, Claire; Rathje, Steve; Harris, Elizabeth; Bavel, Jay J. Van

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101423

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…While prominent accounts claim that partisanship and politically motivated cognition play a limited role in the belief and sharing of misinformation as compared with other factors (such as cognition reflection or inattention) 10,68 , our results indicate that motivation and partisan identity or ideology are very important factors. Our data point to the importance of broad theoretical accounts of (mis)information belief and sharing that integrate motivation and partisan identity with other variables 2,10,11,24,69 . Indeed, an investigation using cognitive modelling found that a broad model of misinformation belief that included multiple factors (such as partisan identity, cognitive reflection and more) performed better at predicting acceptance of misinformation than other models that focused exclusively on cognitive or emotional factors 70 .…”

Section: Relative Importance Of Accuracy Incentivesmentioning

confidence: 76%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Accuracy and social motivations shape judgements of (mis)information

et al. 2023

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The extent to which belief in (mis)information reflects lack of knowledge versus a lack of motivation to be accurate is unclear. Here, across four experiments (n = 3,364), we motivated US participants to be accurate by providing financial incentives for correct responses about the veracity of true and false political news headlines. Financial incentives improved accuracy and reduced partisan bias in judgements of headlines by about 30%, primarily by increasing the perceived accuracy of true news from the opposing party (d = 0.47). Incentivizing people to identify news that would be liked by their political allies, however, decreased accuracy. Replicating prior work, conservatives were less accurate at discerning true from false headlines than liberals, yet incentives closed the gap in accuracy between conservatives and liberals by 52%. A non-financial accuracy motivation intervention was also effective, suggesting that motivation-based interventions are scalable. Altogether, these results suggest that a substantial portion of people’s judgements of the accuracy of news reflects motivational factors.

show abstract

Section: Relative Importance Of Accuracy Incentivesmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Misinformation exposure can reduce support for climate change 3,4 or lead to vaccine hesitancy [5][6][7] , and the mere repetition of misinformation can increase belief in it 8,9 . There has thus been a growing interest in understanding the psychology of belief in misinformation and how to mitigate its spread 1,2,[10][11][12] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Accuracy and social motivations shape judgements of (mis)information

et al. 2023

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such an observation is reinforced when examining the partisan and ideological correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs. In particular, the basic nature of these relationships is heavily contingent on the specific conspiracy theories probed because conspiracy theories are differentially attractive depending on one’s social and political identities 61 , 62 . Further, the factors associated with belief in one conspiracy theory may not speak to the general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories 60 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The psychological and political correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs

Uscinski

Enders

Diekman

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding the individual-level characteristics associated with conspiracy theory beliefs is vital to addressing and combatting those beliefs. While researchers have identified numerous psychological and political characteristics associated with conspiracy theory beliefs, the generalizability of those findings is uncertain because they are typically drawn from studies of only a few conspiracy theories. Here, we employ a national survey of 2021 U.S. adults that asks about 15 psychological and political characteristics as well as beliefs in 39 different conspiracy theories. Across 585 relationships examined within both bivariate (correlations) and multivariate (regression) frameworks, we find that psychological traits (e.g., dark triad) and non-partisan/ideological political worldviews (e.g., populism, support for violence) are most strongly related to individual conspiracy theory beliefs, regardless of the belief under consideration, while other previously identified correlates (e.g., partisanship, ideological extremity) are inconsistently related. We also find that the correlates of specific conspiracy theory beliefs mirror those of conspiracy thinking (the predisposition), indicating that this predisposition operates like an ‘average’ of individual conspiracy theory beliefs. Overall, our findings detail the psychological and political traits of the individuals most drawn to conspiracy theories and have important implications for scholars and practitioners seeking to prevent or reduce the impact of conspiracy theories.

show abstract

“…For example, in the context of the US, some studies suggest that Republicans are less critical (or even supportive) of the spread of conspiracy theories in comparison to Democrats (Dow et al, 2023;Green et al, 2023). These findings exemplify that social groups -in this case, defined by specific political attitudes and identity might differ in the normative evaluation of the spread conspiracy theories, considering that conspiracy narratives can become a means to enhance the group's image and status (Marie & Petersen, 2022;Robertson et al, 2022). In short, the negative impact that we argue conspiracy beliefs might have on interpersonal relationships could further depend on the normative evaluation people have of the spread of these beliefs.…”

Section: Conspiracy Theories and Social Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Belief in Conspiracy Theories Affect Interpersonal Relationships?

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years, researchers have begun to study the social consequences of conspiracy beliefs. However, little research has investigated the impact of conspiracy beliefs on interpersonal relationships. In this review, we draw attention to this issue by summarizing available empirical evidence and proposing potential social-psychological mechanisms to explain whether and why conspiracy theories affect interpersonal relationships. We firstly discuss that the attitude change that often accompanies the internalization of conspiracy beliefs might distance people’s opinions and, consequently, erode their relationships. Furthermore, we argue that the stigmatizing value of conspiracy theories can negatively affect the evaluation of conspiracy believers and discourage others from getting close to them. Finally, we consider that the misperception of social norms associated with the acceptance of certain conspiracy narratives can lead conspiracy believers to engage in non-normative behavior. Others are likely to perceive such behavior negatively, resulting in diminished interpersonal interaction. We highlight the need for further research to address these issues, as well as the potential factors that may prevent relationships being eroded by conspiracy beliefs.

show abstract

How social identity shapes conspiratorial belief

Cited by 24 publications

References 55 publications

Accuracy and social motivations shape judgements of (mis)information

Accuracy and social motivations shape judgements of (mis)information

The psychological and political correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs

Does Belief in Conspiracy Theories Affect Interpersonal Relationships?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About