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Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance
European Journal of Social Psychology, Volume: 53, Issue: 1, Pages: 78 - 89
Swansea University Author: Gabriela Jiga-Boy
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DOI (Published version): 10.1002/ejsp.2888
Abstract
While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country‐level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believ...
Published in: | European Journal of Social Psychology |
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ISSN: | 0046-2772 1099-0992 |
Published: |
Wiley
2023
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Online Access: |
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URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61592 |
Abstract: |
While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country‐level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis. |
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Item Description: |
Data availability statement:Data and code for analyses can be found on OSF: https://osf.io/btmnv/ |
Keywords: |
Conspiracies, conspiracy beliefs, economicvitality, GDP, political trust |
College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
Funders: |
Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). |
Issue: |
1 |
Start Page: |
78 |
End Page: |
89 |