“Think for Yourself, or Others Will Think for You”: Predicting Belief in Conspiracy Theories with Epistemic Individualism and Critical Thinking Dispositions

Abstract

Epistemic individualism has recently been considered as a potential explanation for critical thinking and conspiracy theories. We propose in this paper to resolve this paradox. In three studies (N = 1952), we investigate the constituents of epistemic individualism, build a scale, and examine how it explains belief in conspiracy theories. The last study also includes critical thinking dispositions and the appeal to authority. Overall, the final version of Epistemic Individual Scale (EIS) shows good reliability, and generally correlates positively with conspiracy theories. Critical thinking dispositions predicted partially epistemic individualism, but were not correlated to conspiracist mentality. Results are discussed in terms of educational applications and further investigation of the validity of the EIS.

Conspiracy believers claim to be free thinkers but (Under)Use advice like everyone else

“…Then, we measured conformity ( α UK = .78; α Pakistan = .63, Mehrabian & Stefl, 1995, see Figure 2 for details on the scale) and self‐reported social information use with two questions previously found to be associated with conspiracy mentality (Tomas et al, 2022, see Figure 2). The questions were presented in a randomized order.…”

“…Is their scepticism restrained to mainstream epistemic authorities or is it a manifestation of a general tendency to discount social information? Recent work has shown that conspiracy believers are more likely to be 'epistemic individualists' (Tomas et al, 2022), a mindset that reflects both an exacerbated distrust of social information and a marked confidence in one's own intuitions. For instance, they are more likely to say that the opinion of someone has no value compared with their own experience and that they do not need others to understand the world.…”

Insight in the conspiracist’s mind

“…In modern times, this need is expressed through active participation in online discussion forums, where conspiracists collect and weigh the evidence for their theories (Klein et al, 2018(Klein et al, , 2019Levy, 2022). Correlational, questionnaire-based evidence, too, suggests they pride themselves on their independent, analytical, and discerning thinking (Georgiou et al, 2021c;Tomas et al, 2022), and on their openness to experience (Swami et al, 2010(Swami et al, , 2013.…”

Conspiracy Believers Underuse Social Information (Like Everyone Else)

“…Is their skepticism restrained to mainstream epistemic authorities or is it a more general manifestation of a distrustful mindset? Recent work has shown that conspiracy believers are more likely to be 'epistemic individualists' (Tomas et al, 2022), a mindset that reflects both an exacerbated distrust of social information and a marked confidence in one's own intuitions. For instance, they are more likely to say that the opinion of someone has no value compared to their own experience and that they don't need others to understand the world.…”

“…Then, we measured conformity (αUK = .78; αPakistan = .63, Mehrabian & Stefl, 1995, see Figure 2 for details on the scale) and self-reported social information use with two questions previously found to be associated with conspiracy mentality (Tomas et al, 2022, see Figure 2).…”