During COVID-19, conspiracy theories were intensely discussed in the media. Generally, both believing in conspiracy theories (i.e., explanations for events based on powerholders’ secret arrangements) ...and being confronted with a conspiracy theory have been found to predict cognition and behavior with negative societal effects, such as low institutional trust. Accordingly, believing in conspiracy theories around COVID-19 should reduce institutional trust, support of governmental regulations and their adoption, and social engagement (e.g., helping members of risk groups). We tested these predictions in a national random sample survey, an experiment, and a longitudinal study (N
total = 1,213; all studies were preregistered). Indeed, believing in and being confronted with a COVID-19 conspiracy theory decreased institutional trust, support of governmental regulations, adoption of physical distancing, and—to some extent—social engagement. Findings underscore the severe societal effects of conspiracy theories in the context of COVID-19.
Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories can have severe consequences; it is therefore crucial to understand this phenomenon, in its similarities with general conspiracy belief, but also in how it is ...context-dependent.
The aim of this systematic review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the available research on COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and to synthesise this research to make it widely accessible.
We present a synthesis of COVID-19 conspiracy belief research from 85 international articles, identified and appraised through a systematic review, in line with contemporary protocols and guidelines for systematic reviews.
We identify a number of potential antecedents of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs (individual differences, personality traits, demographic variables, attitudes, thinking styles and biases, group identity, trust in authorities, and social media use), their consequences (protective behaviours, self-centred and misguided behaviours such as hoarding and pseudoscientific health practices, vaccination intentions, psychological wellbeing, and other negative social consequences such as discrimination and violence), and the effect sizes of their relations with the conspiracy beliefs.
We conclude that understanding both the potential antecedents and consequences of conspiracy beliefs and how they are context-dependent is highly important to tackle them, whether in the COVID-19 pandemic or future threats, such as that of climate change.
•Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories can have severe consequences.•This systematic review identifies potential antecedents and consequences of beliefs.•Conspiracy belief consequences are context-dependent and time-sensitive.•Understanding antecedents can help create interventions to decrease beliefs.•This research provides insights for the COVID-19 pandemic but also for future threats.
Successful leadership requires leaders to make their followers aware of expectations regarding the goals to achieve, norms to follow, and task responsibilities to take over. This awareness is often ...achieved through leader-follower communication. In times of economic globalization and digitalization, however, leader-follower communication has become both more digitalized (virtual, rather than face-to-face) and less frequent, making successful leader-follower-communication more challenging. The current research tested in four studies (three preregistered) whether digitalization and frequency of interaction predict task-related leadership success. In one cross-sectional (Study 1, N = 200), one longitudinal (Study 2, N = 305), and one quasi-experimental study (Study 3, N = 178), as predicted, a higher frequency (but not a lower level of digitalization) of leader-follower interactions predicted better task-related leadership outcomes (i.e., stronger goal clarity, norm clarity, and task responsibility among followers). Via mediation and a causal chain approach, Study 3 and Study 4 (N = 261) further targeted the mechanism; results showed that the relationship between (higher) interaction frequency and these outcomes is due to followers perceiving more opportunities to share work-related information with the leaders. These results improve our understanding of contextual factors contributing to leadership success in collaborations across hierarchies. They highlight that it is not the digitalization but rather the frequency of interacting with their leader that predicts whether followers gain clarity about the relevant goals and norms to follow and the task responsibilities to assume.
People believing in conspiracy theories question mainstream thoughts and behavior, but it is unknown whether it is also linked to lower adherence to the prosocial norms of the broader society. ...Furthermore, interventions targeting correlates of the belief in conspiracy theories so far are scarce. In four preregistered, mixed-design experiments (Ntotal = 1,659, Nobservations = 8,902), we tested whether believing in conspiracy theories is related to lower prosocial norm adherence and whether deliberation about the reason for the norms mitigates this relationship. Across four studies with the U.S. samples, we found that believing in conspiracy theories correlated negatively with prosocial norm adherence in the control condition, which was less pronounced after deliberation (effect size of interaction: d = 0.16). Whether the norm was related to the law or not did not moderate this effect. Results point toward possible ways of mitigating negative correlates and potentially also consequences of believing in conspiracy theories.
This commentary in response to Nera (2024, this issue) offers an overview of different operationalizations and conceptualizations of the tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. It distinguishes ...Conspiracy Mentality (the disposition to believe in any kind of conspiracy theory) from the Belief in Conspiracy Theories (described as latent variable or monological network underlying the belief in many popular and scientifically unwarranted conspiracy theories, sometimes also called conspiracy ideation or generalized conspiracy belief) and the belief in a specific conspiracy theory (for example surrounding the Apollo moonlanding or COVID-19). It emphasizes the need for researchers to be clear about their operationalization and conceptualization of the tendency to believe in conspiracy theories, especially when making causal statements about its impact on the belief in specific conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories often involve topics of uncertainty and ambivalence. One of those topics during the Covid-19 pandemic was the vaccination based on the new method using messenger RNA. In a ...preregistered study with N = 382 participants, we tested an intervention addressing the uncertainty concerning this new vaccination at a time when conspiracy theories about the vaccination method were not yet widely spread. Participants either only read short facts about the new vaccination (no explanation condition), or read these facts in addition to an explanation about the function of messenger RNA vaccines (relevant explanation condition), or they read the facts after the explanation of an alternative issue (irrelevant explanation condition). Results showed that individuals reading the relevant explanations addressing uncertainties surrounding the new vaccination method were less likely to agree with a Covid-19 vaccination conspiracy theory and were more willing to get a Covid-19 vaccination compared to the other conditions. An exploratory analysis showed that agreement with the Covid-19 vaccination conspiracy theory mediated the effect of explanation type on vaccination intentions. Potential implications and limitations are discussed.
There are many examples of people believing in conspiracy theories showing non-normative behaviors. But why is this the case? The current contribution proposes that the non-normative behavior of ...people believing in conspiracy theories is a natural consequence of a different social reality that is associated with the belief in conspiracy theories. This social reality is characterized by a tendency for distinction and distrust in social relationships, a different perception of descriptive norms, a questioning of the injunctive norms regarding specific behaviors, lower trust in institutions and traditional authorities, as well as alternative norms among people believing in conspiracy theories.
• Believing in conspiracy theories is related to non-normative behaviors.• This non-normative behavior is a natural consequence of a different social reality.• This social reality is characterized by distrust and a different perception of norms.• Taking into account the social reality of conspiracy beliefs can improve interventions.
Right‐wing movements across the globe call for system‐changing actions. This development contradicts the typically assumed resistance to change among the political right. Many of these movements use ...conspiracist rhetoric and, thus, we reasoned that conspiracy mentality might be associated with the striving for system change—especially on the political right. In four cross‐sectional studies in Germany (one nationally quota‐balanced, one preregistered; total N = 1539) we found that high conspiracy mentality was related to support for social change among the right and to support for reactionary social change among the left. Support for change among those high in conspiracy mentality was diminished when elected representatives (vs the population) were thought to drive social change. These results suggest that both right wingers and left wingers high in conspiracy mentality support change in ways that are seemingly incompatible with their political orientation.
Successful leadership requires leaders to make their followers aware of expectations regarding the goals to achieve, norms to follow, and task responsibilities to take over. This awareness is often ...achieved through leader-follower communication. In times of economic globalization and digitalization, however, leader-follower communication has become both more digitalized (virtual, rather than face-to-face) and less frequent, making successful leader-follower-communication more challenging. The current research tested in four studies (three preregistered) whether digitalization and frequency of interaction predict task-related leadership success. In one cross-sectional (Study 1, N = 200), one longitudinal (Study 2, N = 305), and one quasi-experimental study (Study 3, N = 178), as predicted, a higher frequency (but not a lower level of digitalization) of leader-follower interactions predicted better task-related leadership outcomes (i.e., stronger goal clarity, norm clarity, and task responsibility among followers). Via mediation and a causal chain approach, Study 3 and Study 4 (N = 261) further targeted the mechanism; results showed that the relationship between (higher) interaction frequency and these outcomes is due to followers perceiving more opportunities to share work-related information with the leaders. These results improve our understanding of contextual factors contributing to leadership success in collaborations across hierarchies. They highlight that it is not the digitalization but rather the frequency of interacting with their leader that predicts whether followers gain clarity about the relevant goals and norms to follow and the task responsibilities to assume.
Objectives
Increasing vaccination hesitancy threatens societies’ capacity to contain pandemics and other diseases. One factor that is positively associated with vaccination intentions is a supportive ...subjective norm (i.e., the perception that close others approve of vaccination). On the downside, there is evidence that negative attitudes toward vaccinations are partly rooted in conspiracy mentality (i.e., the tendency to believe in conspiracies). The objective of this study is to examine the role of subjective norms in moderating the association between conspiracy mentality and vaccine hesitancy. We examined two competing predictions: Are those high in conspiracy mentality immune to subjective norms, or do subjective norms moderate the relationship between conspiracy mentality and vaccination intentions?
Methods
We conducted five studies (total N = 1,280) to test these hypotheses across several vaccination contexts (some real, some fictitious). We measured conspiracy mentality, vaccination intentions, subjective norms, attitudes toward vaccination, and perceived behavioural control.
Results
A merged analysis across the studies revealed an interaction effect of conspiracy mentality and subjective norm on vaccination intentions. When subjective norm was high (i.e., when participants perceived that close others approved of vaccines) conspiracy mentality no longer predicted vaccination intentions. This was consistent with the moderating hypothesis of subjective norms and inconsistent with the immunity hypothesis.
Conclusions
The typical negative relationship between conspiracy mentality and vaccination intentions is eliminated among those who perceive pro‐vaccination subjective norms. Although correlational, these data raise the possibility that pro‐vaccination views of friends and family can be leveraged to reduce vaccine hesitancy.
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