Features of Conspiratorial Mentality and Critical Thinking of Managers

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of the study was to discover the relationship between critical thinking, personality traits and belief in conspiracies of middle managers. The author’s view on the system of mentality, where conspiratorial attitudes are a substantial part, is presented. The sample is presented by 60 managers aged between 29 and 45 years with work experience from 15 to 25 years. We used the author’s method “Conspirativistic mentality”; multifactorial personality questionnaire FPI; Starkey Critical Thinking Test. We used the Mann-Whitney difference criterion and correlation analysis. The presence of interest and belief in conspiracies in a group of managers has been empirically confirmed. The most pronounced of them are the belief in conspiracies of pharmaceutical companies, a political conspiracy, the end of the world, a grocery conspiracy. They are associated with high indicators of critical thinking and certain personality traits (spontaneous aggressiveness, irritability, reactive aggressiveness, openness, emotional lability). Despite the fact that today in a difficult, crisis economic situation, managers have to make difficult managerial decisions, they adhere to the belief in conspiracies. It is concluded that conspirativistic attitudes play a protective function of reducing aggression and there is the need for further study of the conspirativistic mentality.KeywordsCritical thinkingConspirativistic mentalityManagersBelief in conspiracyPersonality traits