Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to numerous new conspiracy theories related to the virus. This study aimed to investigate a range of individual predictors of beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories that account for sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, education, economic standard, the importance of religion, and political self-identification), distinctive motivational orientations (social dominance and authoritarianism), relevant social attitudes (sense of political powerlessness and trust in science and scientists), and perceived personal risk (perceived risk for self and family members, the concern of being infected, and the expected influence of pandemic on the economic standard of an individual). Participants were 1,060 adults recruited from the general public of Croatia. The sample was a probabilistic quota sample with gender, age, level of education, size of the dwelling, and region of the country as predetermined quotas. The regression model explained 42.2% of the individual differences in beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Trust in science and scientists and political powerlessness were the strongest predictors, whereas fear of being infected had the weakest contribution in explaining the variance of the criterion. Additionally, results revealed that the relation of conventionalism (as a proxy of authoritarianism) with belief in COVID-19 conspiracies was mediated by trust in science and scientists. The relation between social dominance and belief in conspiracies was also partially mediated by trust in science. The results suggest that (re)building trust in science and lowering the sense of political helplessness might help in fighting potentially harmful false beliefs about the pandemic.
Highlights
A conspiracy theory (CT) may be understood as an alternative explanation of an important social event that is hidden from the public
It is not surprising that the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to numerous new conspiracy theories related to the virus, some of which were adopted by many people
rightwing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) showed significant associations with trust in all public institutions, and the longitudinal nature of this study revealed that some correlations reversed their effects in time due to modifications in the characteristics of the governmental institutions
Summary
A conspiracy theory (CT) may be understood as an alternative explanation of an important social event that is hidden from the public. Research has shown that tendency to believe in conspiracy theories is related to lower levels of analytic thinking. Beliefs in conspiracy theories are sensitive to social contexts (van Prooijen and Douglas, 2018). Conspiracy theories have been a part of human history for a long time and are more likely to emerge during societal crises driven by a motivation to make sense and establish control and understanding over unpredictable events (van Prooijen and Douglas, 2017). A growing number of scientific studies are testing accumulated knowledge about predictors, correlates, and consequences of believing in conspiracy theories in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (for a recent review as shown in van Mulukom et al, 2020). We will focus on variables predominantly related to social and political factors that may be related to conspiracy ideation (Douglas et al, 2019)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
