The literature on construal-level theory has provided a rich but complex set of findings regarding how abstract and concrete construals affect moral and political attitudes. One set of findings ...suggests that abstractness sharpens and polarizes moral and political judgments, whereas other findings suggest the opposite. In this article, I first review and explain both sets of findings. Second, I argue that it is possible to reconcile seemingly contradictory results by considering (a) the interpersonal variation in core values, (b) the confounding effects of utilitarian and deontological thinking styles, and (c) potentially different effects of different manipulations of abstractness. I conclude by arguing that consideration of these factors would resolve the complexity in the relationship between construal levels and moral and political attitudes.
Recent research suggested that illness-related search predicts religious search on Google. In the current research, I aimed to replicate this finding and investigate whether such association depends ...on the existing level of religiosity. In Study 1, I reanalyze an existing data set on search behavior for 630 consecutive weeks and show that although illness-related search predicts religious search in 16 different countries, this association does not depend on the religiosity level of the countries. The same finding was replicated in within-nation comparisons of the U.S. states (Study 2) and Turkish provinces (Study 3). In all studies, during a period of 235 consecutive weeks, illness-related search predicted religious search, but the differences in religiosity among regions did not influence this association, which arguably might not be consistent with the terror management theory. I argue that such a finding shows the necessity of considering all alternative theories when interpreting the effects of mortality salience.
Recent research has showed that people with right-wing political orientations and political extremists are more likely to harbor conspiracy beliefs. Utilizing a multisite data set (23 countries, N > ...20,000), we show that corruption moderates how political orientation predicts conspiracy beliefs. We found that (1) the difference between left- and right-wingers in terms of adopting a conspiracy mind-set is attenuated in countries with high corruption; and (2) left-wingers are more likely to believe left-wing conspiracy theories, and right-wingers are more likely to believe right-wing conspiracy theories in high corruption countries. Including quadratic effects of political orientation yielded the same results. We argue that this is because corruption increases perceived plausibility of conspiracies, and everyone across the political spectrum becomes similarly likely to adopt a conspiracy mentality. This heightened suspicion, however, is reflected on partisan conspiracy theories differently for left- and right-wingers, depending on their different understandings of outgroup.
COVID-19 pandemic has led to popular conspiracy theories regarding its origins and widespread concern over the level of compliance with preventive measures. In the current preregistered research, we ...recruited 1088 Turkish participants and investigated (a) individual differences associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs; (b) whether such conspiracy beliefs are related to the level of preventive measures; and (c) other individual differences that might be related to the preventive measures. Higher faith in intuition, uncertainty avoidance, impulsivity, generic conspiracy beliefs, religiosity, and right-wing ideology, and a lower level of cognitive reflection were associated with a higher level of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. There was no association between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures while perceived risk was positively and impulsivity negatively correlated with preventive measures. We discuss the implications and directions for future research.
One of the most prominent correlates of trust in science and scientists is education level, possibly because educated individuals have higher levels of science knowledge and thinking ability, ...suggesting that trusting science and scientists relies more on reflective thinking abilities. However, it is relatively more reasonable for highly educated individuals to suspect authority figures in highly corrupt countries. We tested this prediction in two nationally representative and probabilistic cross-cultural data sets (Study 1: 142 countries, N = 40,085; Study 2: 47 countries, N = 69,332), and found that the positive association between education and trust in scientists (Study 1) and science (Study 2) was weaker or non-existent in highly corrupt countries. The results did not change after statistically controlling for age, sex, household income, and residence. We suggest future research to be more considerate of the societal context in understanding how education status correlates with trust in science and scientists.
Abstract
While previous studies reveal mixed findings on the relationship between analytic cognitive style (ACS) and right-wing (conservative) political orientation, the correlation is generally ...negative. However, most of these studies are based on Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies, and it is not clear whether this relationship is a cross-culturally stable phenomenon. In order to test cross-cultural generalizability of this finding, we re-analyzed the data collected by the Many Labs 2 Project from 30 politically diverse societies (N = 7,263). Social conservatism is measured with the binding foundations scale, comprising of loyalty (patriotism), authority (respect for traditions), and sanctity (respect for the sacred), as proposed by the moral foundations theory, while ACS is measured by the three-item modified cognitive reflection task. The level of WEIRDness of each country was calculated by scoring how much a culture is Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic. Although social conservatism is negatively associated with ACS in the aggregate, analysis indicates that the relationship is significantly stronger among WEIRD and remains negligible among non-WEIRD cultures. These findings show the cross-cultural variability of this relationship and emphasize the limitations of studying only WEIRD cultures.
Abstract
One of the many established predictors of conspiracy beliefs is reflective thinking, but no meta-analysis so far has examined this relationship. In the current meta-analysis of published and ...unpublished correlational data (145 samples, 181 effect sizes), we found a significant negative association between reflective thinking and conspiracy beliefs with a medium-level effect size (r = –.189) . Similar levels of correlations were found across different types of measures (self-report vs. performance-based) and conspiracy beliefs (generic vs. specific). Further, no evidence suggested publication bias in this body of work. Suggestions for future research are discussed.
We hypothesized that perceived intentionality is one of the factors explaining why terrorism is perceived to be a more important problem than traffic accidents. In Study 1, we conducted an experiment ...on a large Turkish sample (
N
= 385) and found that participants suggested allocating significantly more budget to prevent terror-related deaths, as compared to deaths caused by traffic accidents, and this difference was fully mediated by perceived intentionality. In Study 2, which was pre-registered, we hypothesized that American participants (
N
= 450) would similarly suggest allocating more budget to prevent deaths caused by terrorist incidents, as compared to traffic accidents, but this difference would disappear when traffic accidents are portrayed as involving a perpetrator consciously disregarding the safety of others. Our hypothesis was partially supported. We discuss the potential implications for policy-makers and social psychological research.
Recent research suggests that experimentally inducing an abstract (vs. a concrete) mind-set enhances political sophistication by increasing the consistency in political attitudes; it also enhances ...individualizing moral foundations and decreases binding moral foundations. However, the evidence is mixed regarding whether abstract mind-set increases or decreases the strength of moral convictions in general. In this context, the aim of this study was 2-fold. In two preregistered studies on U.S. American and Turkish samples (aggregate N = 694), we tested (1) whether abstract mind-set increases the consistency in moral convictions, similar to the case of political attitudes, and (2) whether inducing an abstract mind-set increases individualizing and decreases binding foundations. The results did not provide support for any of the hypotheses and the past findings were not reproduced. Potential implications of these findings for construal level theory literature are discussed.
In four studies, I found evidence that people living in countries with higher levels of corruption have a greater tendency for conspiracy ideation. In Study 1 (21 countries, N = 20,207), participants ...living in more corrupt countries reported having higher COVID‐19 and generic conspiracy beliefs. Study 2 (25 countries, N = 4935), Study 3 (25 countries, N = 24,424), and Study 4 (24 countries, N = 5973) replicated the same finding. Internal meta‐analysis suggested that this association remained significant after adjusting for other relevant cross‐country differences. Studies 1 and 2, but not 3 and 4, also showed that corruption moderated the association between individuals’ gullibility (i.e., lack of education) and their conspiracy beliefs, and this association was significant only in low‐corruption countries. The findings suggest that country‐level corruption breeds conspiracy beliefs and moderates the effect of individuals’ gullibility on conspiracy beliefs.
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