A large study published in the journal Political Psychology suggests that the link between conspiracy belief and religiosity is rooted in cognitive similarities between the two beliefs. The overall findings suggest that people with higher conspiracy belief also tend to be more...
The Five Factor Model of Personality (also known as The Big Five) refers to the traits of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Of these, neuroticism, which refers to emotional instability, is linked to cognitive failures such as inattentiveness. New...
A large-scale project involving over 100,000 people from 26 countries concluded that conspiracy mentality was associated with extreme left- and right-wing beliefs, and that this effect was stronger among voters of opposition parties (i.e., voters deprived of political control). This...
New research published Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin provides evidence that national narcissism is strongly tied to the spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories. National narcissism, a type of collective narcissism, refers to the belief that one's nation is exceptional and...
Conspiracy theories might offer a straightforward and simple explanations for complex events. But new research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that they do not do much to help people cope with the experience of anxiety, uncertainty,...
Having less accurate knowledge about COVID-19 is associated with a greater likelihood of contracting the virus, according to new research published in Scientific Reports. The findings indicate that people who believe misinformation about COVID-19 are at greater risk of getting...
A study published in the Journal of Research in Personality sheds new light on the psychological features that tie narcissism to conspiracy thinking. The findings suggest that while people who are high in grandiose narcissism are more likely to believe in conspiracy...
A study published in the journal of Personality and Individual Differences found that Machiavellianism, primary psychopathy, and collective narcissism positively predicted belief in COVID-19 conspiracies. Further, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs explained the negative relationship between these dark personality traits and the...
"Conspiracy theories are in many ways harmful for society. But, this study suggests that in the long run, conspiracy theories also are associated with harmful health and well-being outcomes for believers themselves."
Anti-establishment sentiments are a key component of political opinion and behavior in the United States and are distinct from traditional indicators of political ideology, according to new research. "Especially with the ascendance of Trump, we witnessed a blending of left-right...
"Conspiracy theories have a storyline that actually has a lot in common with entertaining works of fiction, such as a scary movie of a detective novel. This also explains their appeal: People find conspiracy theories entertaining, that is, interesting, exciting,...
New research sheds light on the relationship between distrust of new scientific innovations and the general tendency to believe in conspiracies. The study provides evidence that different facets of conspiracism predict different anti-science attitudes. The findings have been published in...
A study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology sheds light on how a person’s worldview can lead them to jump to erroneous conclusions in domains that correspond to these views. The researchers found that greater conspiracy belief was associated with increased...
A study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology sheds light on a promising avenue for reducing vaccine hesitancy. The researchers found that when people with a conspiracy mindset perceived their social circle as being supportive of vaccines (including...
New research published in Applied Cognitive Psychology provides evidence that critical thinking skills are negatively related to belief in conspiracy theories. In other words, the study suggests that people with greater critical thinking skills are less likely to believe that...