A recent study published in the Journal of Individual Differences has shed light on the psychological factors influencing conspiracy thinking. The research found that existential isolation and alienation are both significant predictors of conspiracy beliefs. However, loneliness did not have a significant impact on such beliefs.
Conspiracy theorists are frequently stereotyped as isolated individuals, often depicted as reclusive figures wearing “tinfoil hats.” But this image has evolved significantly, with contemporary research recognizing that conspiracy beliefs are no longer fringe phenomena but are prevalent across various social groups and have considerable influence on major sociopolitical movements.
Recent academic focus has explored various psychological aspects of conspiracy beliefs. Previous studies have identified three main motivational needs — epistemic, existential, and social — that conspiracy theories might satisfy. Epistemic needs relate to the desire for knowledge and certainty; existential needs involve a sense of control and security; and social needs include the desire for uniqueness and social standing.
Despite these insights, a significant gap remained in understanding how different forms of subjective interpersonal isolation, like loneliness, existential isolation, and alienation, might influence conspiracy beliefs specifically. The new study aimed to fill these research gaps by empirically testing and comparing these three distinct forms of interpersonal isolation.
“The reason we were interested in this topic was because recently there has been a lot of research on the psychology of conspiracy beliefs, but no research so far has systematically investigated the role of feelings of isolation may play in fostering conspiratorial thinking styles,” explained study author Madhwa Galgali, a graduate student at the University of Missouri and member Professor Jamie Arndt’s Existential Motivation Lab.
“Furthermore, this research was carried out when COVID-19 was at its peak. At that time, many were isolated and concurrently there was a rapid spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation online, which led us to wonder if there was a link between the two. Additionally, when digging into the literature, we found that although the popular press generally assumed that conspiracy believers were just lonely people who lacked social relationships, there was very little direct research addressing this.”
“And finally, little attention was paid to the role of different feelings of isolation such as existential isolation, and how it might contribute to making conspiracies attractive. All these factors contributed to us being interested in exploring this topic.”
The researchers conducted a series of four studies that aimed to discern the impact existential isolation, alienation, and loneliness on conspiratorial ideation. The participants for each study were predominantly recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (Mturk), an online platform commonly used for academic research that provides access to a diverse participant pool. Some participants in later studies were also sourced from a university student population to enhance the sample diversity. The studies included 2,452 participants in total.
In all four studies, the participants completed the Generic Conspiracists Beliefs scale, which assesses an individual’s tendency to endorse various conspiracy theories, ranging from government malfeasance to extraterrestrial cover-ups. The scale asks participants the extent to which they believe in various statements such as “The power held by heads of state is second to that of small unknown groups who really control world politics” and “Technology with mind-control capacities is used on people without their knowledge.”
The researchers found a consistent and significant link between existential isolation and conspiratorial thinking. Existential isolation refers to the sensation of feeling alone in one’s experiences, where individuals perceive that no one else shares or can understand their view of the world.
This form of isolation was robustly associated with a higher likelihood of adopting conspiracy theories. This suggests that individuals who feel profoundly disconnected from others in their understanding of the world might turn to conspiracy theories as a way to make sense of or manage these isolating experiences.
Alienation also emerged as a significant predictor of conspiratorial thinking. Alienation, in this context, is described as feeling marginalized or left behind by society. Individuals who perceive themselves as outsiders or disenfranchised may be more susceptible to conspiracy theories, possibly as a way to explain their marginalization or to find a sense of community and purpose in alternative narratives that defy mainstream societal explanations.
Importantly, the researchers controlled for a variety of other factors in their analysis, including but not limited to education level, political orientation, schizotypal personality, need for uniqueness, analytical thinking, and openness to pseudo-profound bullshit, ensuring that the effects attributed to existential isolation and alienation were not confounded by these other variables.
“If one wants to understand how feelings of isolation contribute to conspiratorial thinking then one should consider the role of different types of isolation,” Galgali told PsyPost. “In general, our research finds a consistent link between the feeling that one’s subjective understanding of the world is not being heard or understood by those around them (i.e., feeling existentially isolated) and conspiratorial thinking.”
“We also find a strong link between feeling alienated (i.e., feeling ‘left behind’ by the culture or the society in general) and conspiracy thinking. So our research suggests that reducing such feelings of isolation might contribute to reduced conspiracy thinking.”
Interestingly, the researchers found that loneliness, contrary to popular belief, did not significantly predict conspiracy beliefs when other variables were controlled. This finding challenges the stereotype often portrayed in media of the lonely conspiracy theorist and suggests that not all forms of interpersonal isolation have the same impact on conspiratorial ideation.
“The consistent null effect of loneliness in our sample was surprising, especially in light of recent results from Bierwiaczonek et al. (2024) who found loneliness to be an important predictor of conspiracy beliefs among Norwegian samples,” Galgali said. “However, as far as we can tell, Bierwiaczonek et al. (2024) did not measure other forms of isolation. We wonder if their measure of loneliness might be tapping into other forms of isolation contributing to this relationship.”
But the study, like all research, includes some caveats. The study used cross-sectional data, meaning that causal relationships could not be determined. Longitudinal or experimental studies would help to clarify whether feelings of isolation lead to conspiracy beliefs or vice versa.
“Due to the cross-sectional design, we cannot ascertain the directionality of the effect (e.g., do feelings alienated predict increased conspiracy beliefs, or do people who hold conspiracy beliefs feel more alienated over time?),” Galgali explained. “Previous research (e.g., Liekefett et al., 2023) suggests that there could be a bidirectional relationship between feelings of isolation and conspiracy beliefs.”
“Social motivations have been identified as one of the important factors that lead people to adopt conspiracies (Douglas; 2019). However, so far very little research has looked into the role of thwarted social needs in making conspiracies attractive. Although, this is changing rapidly much work needs to be done to understand how such factors might contribute to conspiratorial thinking.
“From that perspective, our present research represents just the first step in this process,” Galgali told PsyPost. “The long-term goal would be to understand if feelings of isolation play a causal role in making conspiracies attractive and whether there is a bidirectional relationship between feelings of isolation and belief in conspiracies and their role in relevant behaviors such as trust in vaccines.”
The study, “Isolated But Not Necessarily Lonely: An Exploratory Analysis of Subjective Isolation and Conspiracist Ideation,” was authored by Madhwa. S. Galgali, Peter. J. Helm, and Jamie Arndt.
