Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

Matthew J. HORNSEY; Samuel PEARSON; Jemima KANG; Kai SASSENBERG; Jolanda JETTEN; Paul A.M. VAN LANGE; Luica G. MEDINA; Catherine E. AMIOT; Liisi AUSMEES; Peter BAGUMA; Oumar BARRY; Maja BECKER; Michał BILEWICZ; Thomas CASTELAIN; Giulio COSTANTINI; Girts DIMDINS; Agustín ESPINOSA; Gillian FINCHILESCU; Malte  FRIESE; Roberto GONZÁLEZ; Nobuhiko GOTO; Ángel GÓMEZ; Peter HALAMA; Ruby ILLUSTRISIMO; Gabriela M. JIGA-BOY; Johannes KARL; Peter KUPPENS; Steve LOUGHNAN; Marijana MARKOVIKJ; Khairul A. MASTOR; Neil MCLATCHIE; Lindsay M. NOVAK; Blessing N. ONYEKACHI; Müjde  PEKER; Muhammad RIZWAN; Mark SCHALLER; Eunkook M. SUH; Sanaz TALAIFAR; Eddie M.W. TONG; Ana TORRES; Rhiannon N. TURNER; Christin-Melanie VAUCLAIR; Alexander VINOGRADOV; Zhechen WANG; Wai Lan Victoria YEUNG; Brock BASTIAN

doi:10.1002/ejsp.2888

Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

Matthew J. HORNSEY^*, Samuel PEARSON, Jemima KANG, Kai SASSENBERG, Jolanda JETTEN, Paul A.M. VAN LANGE, Luica G. MEDINA, Catherine E. AMIOT, Liisi AUSMEES, Peter BAGUMA, Oumar BARRY, Maja BECKER, Michał BILEWICZ, Thomas CASTELAIN, Giulio COSTANTINI, Girts DIMDINS, Agustín ESPINOSA, Gillian FINCHILESCU, Malte FRIESE, Roberto GONZÁLEZNobuhiko GOTO, Ángel GÓMEZ, Peter HALAMA, Ruby ILLUSTRISIMO, Gabriela M. JIGA-BOY, Johannes KARL, Peter KUPPENS, Steve LOUGHNAN, Marijana MARKOVIKJ, Khairul A. MASTOR, Neil MCLATCHIE, Lindsay M. NOVAK, Blessing N. ONYEKACHI, Müjde PEKER, Muhammad RIZWAN, Mark SCHALLER, Eunkook M. SUH, Sanaz TALAIFAR, Eddie M.W. TONG, Ana TORRES, Rhiannon N. TURNER, Christin-Melanie VAUCLAIR, Alexander VINOGRADOV, Zhechen WANG, Wai Lan Victoria YEUNG, Brock BASTIAN

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Applied Psychology

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	78-89
Number of pages	12
Journal	European Journal of Social Psychology
Volume	53
Issue number	1
Early online date	18 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2888
Publication status	Published - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Funding

Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp‐2018/1‐0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV‐20‐0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501‐D125‐01‐1250000).

Keywords

GDP
conspiracies
conspiracy beliefs
economic vitality
political trust

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HORNSEY, M. J., PEARSON, S., KANG, J., SASSENBERG, K., JETTEN, J., VAN LANGE, P. A. M., MEDINA, L. G., AMIOT, C. E., AUSMEES, L., BAGUMA, P., BARRY, O., BECKER, M., BILEWICZ, M., CASTELAIN, T., COSTANTINI, G., DIMDINS, G., ESPINOSA, A., FINCHILESCU, G., FRIESE, M., ... BASTIAN, B. (2023). Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(1), 78-89. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2888

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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.",

keywords = "GDP, conspiracies, conspiracy beliefs, economic vitality, political trust",

author = "HORNSEY, {Matthew J.} and Samuel PEARSON and Jemima KANG and Kai SASSENBERG and Jolanda JETTEN and {VAN LANGE}, {Paul A.M.} and MEDINA, {Luica G.} and AMIOT, {Catherine E.} and Liisi AUSMEES and Peter BAGUMA and Oumar BARRY and Maja BECKER and Micha{\l} BILEWICZ and Thomas CASTELAIN and Giulio COSTANTINI and Girts DIMDINS and Agust{\'i}n ESPINOSA and Gillian FINCHILESCU and Malte FRIESE and Roberto GONZ{\'A}LEZ and Nobuhiko GOTO and {\'A}ngel G{\'O}MEZ and Peter HALAMA and Ruby ILLUSTRISIMO and JIGA-BOY, {Gabriela M.} and Johannes KARL and Peter KUPPENS and Steve LOUGHNAN and Marijana MARKOVIKJ and MASTOR, {Khairul A.} and Neil MCLATCHIE and NOVAK, {Lindsay M.} and ONYEKACHI, {Blessing N.} and M{\"u}jde PEKER and Muhammad RIZWAN and Mark SCHALLER and SUH, {Eunkook M.} and Sanaz TALAIFAR and TONG, {Eddie M.W.} and Ana TORRES and TURNER, {Rhiannon N.} and Christin-Melanie VAUCLAIR and Alexander VINOGRADOV and Zhechen WANG and YEUNG, {Wai Lan Victoria} and Brock BASTIAN",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",

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HORNSEY, MJ, PEARSON, S, KANG, J, SASSENBERG, K, JETTEN, J, VAN LANGE, PAM, MEDINA, LG, AMIOT, CE, AUSMEES, L, BAGUMA, P, BARRY, O, BECKER, M, BILEWICZ, M, CASTELAIN, T, COSTANTINI, G, DIMDINS, G, ESPINOSA, A, FINCHILESCU, G, FRIESE, M, GONZÁLEZ, R, GOTO, N, GÓMEZ, Á, HALAMA, P, ILLUSTRISIMO, R, JIGA-BOY, GM, KARL, J, KUPPENS, P, LOUGHNAN, S, MARKOVIKJ, M, MASTOR, KA, MCLATCHIE, N, NOVAK, LM, ONYEKACHI, BN, PEKER, M, RIZWAN, M, SCHALLER, M, SUH, EM, TALAIFAR, S, TONG, EMW, TORRES, A, TURNER, RN, VAUCLAIR, C-M, VINOGRADOV, A, WANG, Z, YEUNG, WLV & BASTIAN, B 2023, 'Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance', European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 78-89. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2888

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T1 - Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

AU - HORNSEY, Matthew J.

AU - PEARSON, Samuel

AU - KANG, Jemima

AU - SASSENBERG, Kai

AU - JETTEN, Jolanda

AU - VAN LANGE, Paul A.M.

AU - MEDINA, Luica G.

AU - AMIOT, Catherine E.

AU - AUSMEES, Liisi

AU - BAGUMA, Peter

AU - BARRY, Oumar

AU - BECKER, Maja

AU - BILEWICZ, Michał

AU - CASTELAIN, Thomas

AU - COSTANTINI, Giulio

AU - DIMDINS, Girts

AU - ESPINOSA, Agustín

AU - FINCHILESCU, Gillian

AU - FRIESE, Malte

AU - GONZÁLEZ, Roberto

AU - GOTO, Nobuhiko

AU - GÓMEZ, Ángel

AU - HALAMA, Peter

AU - ILLUSTRISIMO, Ruby

AU - JIGA-BOY, Gabriela M.

AU - KARL, Johannes

AU - KUPPENS, Peter

AU - LOUGHNAN, Steve

AU - MARKOVIKJ, Marijana

AU - MASTOR, Khairul A.

AU - MCLATCHIE, Neil

AU - NOVAK, Lindsay M.

AU - ONYEKACHI, Blessing N.

AU - PEKER, Müjde

AU - RIZWAN, Muhammad

AU - SCHALLER, Mark

AU - SUH, Eunkook M.

AU - TALAIFAR, Sanaz

AU - TONG, Eddie M.W.

AU - TORRES, Ana

AU - TURNER, Rhiannon N.

AU - VAUCLAIR, Christin-Melanie

AU - VINOGRADOV, Alexander

AU - WANG, Zhechen

AU - YEUNG, Wai Lan Victoria

AU - BASTIAN, Brock

PY - 2023/2

Y1 - 2023/2

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - GDP

KW - conspiracies

KW - conspiracy beliefs

KW - economic vitality

KW - political trust

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132525534&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/ejsp.2888

DO - 10.1002/ejsp.2888

M3 - Journal Article (refereed)

SN - 0046-2772

VL - 53

SP - 78

EP - 89

JO - European Journal of Social Psychology

JF - European Journal of Social Psychology

IS - 1

ER -

Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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