The devil is not as black as he is painted? On the positive relationship between food industry conspiracy beliefs and conscious food choices

Abstract

Previous research found that conspiracy beliefs were usually activated when individuals faced different types of psychological threats and that they led mainly to maladaptive individual and societal outcomes. In this research, we assumed that potential harmfulness of conspiracy beliefs may depend on the context, and we focused on the link between food industry conspiracy beliefs and conscious food choices. We hypothesized that food industry conspiracy beliefs may allow for a constructive attempt to protect oneself against real or imagined enemies (i.e., food industry companies) by conscious food choices (e.g., paying attention to how much the food products are processed). We tested this hypothesis among Polish participants (Study 1; N = 608; cross-sectional and Study 2; N = 790; experimental). Study 1 confirmed that context-specific conspiracy beliefs (but not general notions of conspiracy) are associated with adaptive consumer behaviors. Study 2 showed that inducing feelings of threat related to the possibility of purchasing food contaminated by a harmful bacteria (vs. control condition) increased food industry conspiracy beliefs, which were further positively linked to conscious food choices. We discuss the role of threat and conspiracy beliefs in adaptive consumer behaviors related to food choices.

Psychometric properties of the ORTO-R in a community-based sample of women and men from Poland

“…The Conscious Food Choices Scale is a self-report Polish version of a three-items questionnaire used to measure conscious consumption [ 19 ], i.e. “Before buying a food product, I will read the nutrition information displayed on the label”, “Before buying a food product, I will pay attention to the country of origin of the groceries that I will be buying”, “Before buying a food product, I will pay attention to how much the food products are processed”.…”

Conspiracy beliefs and intention to use conventional, complementary and alternative medicines: Two vignette studies

“…Thus, adherence to generic CBs, which is commonly used as an indicator of the conspiracy mindset (Imhoff et al, 2022), is considered as an antecedent of specific CBs. Some health-related behaviours are influenced by both specific CBs and generic CBs (Copping, 2022), while others are influenced only by specific CBs (Marchlewska et al, 2022). Although generic CBs are one of the best predictors of specific CBs, the strength of this relationship may be domain dependent (Imhoff et al, 2022).…”

“…These events have in common that they represent a social, existential or health threat to individuals. In that sense, CBs may constitute an attempt to cope with an existential threat (Marchlewska et al., 2022; van Prooijen, 2020), making them common in the general population. For example, in France, 79% of the respondents from a nationally representative survey believe in at least one conspiracy theory.…”

“…Some health‐related behaviours are influenced by both specific CBs and generic CBs (Copping, 2022), while others are influenced only by specific CBs (Marchlewska et al., 2022). Although generic CBs are one of the best predictors of specific CBs, the strength of this relationship may be domain dependent (Imhoff et al., 2022).…”

When politics affects the self: High political influence perception predicts civic and political participation

“…The sample consisted of 1000 respondents (549 women, 451 men), between the ages of 18 and 85 (M = 47.99, SD = 16.49). Data was collected via Pollster Institute -a Polish online research panel with prior experience in conducting academic studies (e.g., Marchlewska et al, 2022). We measured political influence perception as a predictor of voting in parliamentary elections.…”