The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories and Misinformation (original) (raw)
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Media Use, Social Structure, and Belief in 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2007
A survey of 1,010 randomly selected adults asked about media use and belief in three conspiracy theories about the attacks of September 11, 2001. “Paranoid style” and “cultural sociology” theories are outlined, and empirical support is found for both. Patterns vary somewhat by conspiracy theory, but members of less powerful groups (racial minorities, lower social class, women, younger ages) are more likely to believe at least one of the conspiracies, as are those with low levels of media involvement and consumers of less legitimate media (blogs and grocery store tabloids). Consumers of legitimate media (daily newspapers and network TV news) are less likely to believe at least one of the conspiracies, although these relationships are not significant after controlling for social structural variables. Beliefs in all three conspiracies are aligned with mainstream political party divisions, evidence that conspiracy thinking is now a normal part of mainstream political conflict in the Uni...
The psychological and political correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs
Scientific Reports, 2022
Understanding the individual-level characteristics associated with conspiracy theory beliefs is vital to addressing and combatting those beliefs. While researchers have identified numerous psychological and political characteristics associated with conspiracy theory beliefs, the generalizability of those findings is uncertain because they are typically drawn from studies of only a few conspiracy theories. Here, we employ a national survey of 2021 U.S. adults that asks about 15 psychological and political characteristics as well as beliefs in 39 different conspiracy theories. Across 585 relationships examined within both bivariate (correlations) and multivariate (regression) frameworks, we find that psychological traits (e.g., dark triad) and non-partisan/ideological political worldviews (e.g., populism, support for violence) are most strongly related to individual conspiracy theory beliefs, regardless of the belief under consideration, while other previously identified correlates (e.g., partisanship, ideological extremity) are inconsistently related. We also find that the correlates of specific conspiracy theory beliefs mirror those of conspiracy thinking (the predisposition), indicating that this predisposition operates like an 'average' of individual conspiracy theory beliefs. Overall, our findings detail the psychological and political traits of the individuals most drawn to conspiracy theories and have important implications for scholars and practitioners seeking to prevent or reduce the impact of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theory beliefs are associated with numerous societal harms, including vaccine refusal, prejudice against vulnerable groups, and political violence 1-6. To lay the groundwork for the development of effective and practical tools to minimize such harms, broad, interdisciplinary research programs have developed over the past decade 7-11. The growing literature has collectively identified dozens of individual-level psychological and political factors that are correlated with conspiracy theory beliefs 11. However, the literature has developed in a piecemeal fashion, with singular studies oftentimes considering only a small number of conspiracy theories or potential correlates at a time 12. This brings into question the generalizability of these previous findings. Our central concern is the extent to which the previously identified psychological and political correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs vary-in strength, direction, and statistical significance-depending on the specific conspiracy theory belief being examined. For example, Republicanism and conservatism are typically associated with the belief that Barack Obama faked his birth certificate 13. Such a finding reveals important details about the basic nature of "birther" beliefs and could even be used to develop strategies to correct such beliefs 14. But should we also expect that the factors related to birtherism are also related to beliefs in other conspiracy theories, such as the assertion that the moon landing was faked? Are the characteristics related to birtherism similar to those of the average conspiracy theory believer, or specific to believers in birtherism or a few other conspiracy theories? Similar questions may be asked of the political and psychological characteristics associated with believers of other conspiracy theories. Going further, should we expect because, for example, narcissism is associated with Holocaust denial and support for violence with QAnon beliefs that, on average, those exhibiting a tendency
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2023
Research on the origin, dissemination, and support of conspiracy theories has skyrocketed. Studies reveal how individual antecedents such as people's personality traits, intrinsic motivations, and broad social-psychological processes explain this phenomenon. Fewer studies, however, explored the role of cable news exposure. This study casts a new light on how exposure to Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC relate to people's levels of general conspiracy mentality fueled by the belief in "secret-plotting orchestrated by powerful others." Results from K-mean cluster algorithms, ordinary least squares (OLS) causalautoregressive regressions, and cross-lagged panel structural equation model tests show Fox News exposure fosters people's conspiracy mentality.
THEORY & PSYCHOLOGY, 2023
In psychological research, conspiracy theories are often defined as explanations of events involving the hidden action of a malevolent group. Such a definition raises a false negative problem, as it does not capture conspiracy theories that are not about events. It also raises a false positive problem because it categorises any conspiracy-based explanation as a conspiracy theory, even though distinguishing conspiracy theories from other conspiracy claims is at the core of many attempts to define this notion. Based on more elaborated definitions and a conceptual re-engineering approach (Brun, 2016), we propose that conspiracy theories can be defined as claims that the public is being pervasively lied to regarding some aspect(s) of reality, to allow some group(s) to enact a harmful, self-serving agenda. Compared to other definitions, ours has the advantage of not taking position regarding the truth value of conspiracy theories, making it highly operative for psychological research.
Conspiracism on social media: An agenda melding of group-mediated deceptions
International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 2020
This study examines students’ social media interactions in relation to their subcultural explorations of a conspiratorial nature. A sample of 476 students from four European universities participated in a survey about conspiracy theories in social media group discussions. In the survey, we examined various social and media factors in relation to students’ beliefs in conspiracy theories. The results of this exploratory study reveal that students treat social media as news sources; furthermore, they trust social media more than traditional mass media. The study reveals demographic, personal and technological factors that encourage a mediated conspiratorial discourse.
International Journal of Research and Review, 2023
Interest in conspiracy theories is growing in both scholarly and popular discourse. Much research has been undertaken to discover the personality traits of those who are prone to believing conspiracy theories. This study attempted to investigate another possible factor that could influence this. 117 adults volunteered to take part in this study. The Need for Cognition Scale (NCS-6), which measures an individual's desire to engage in challenging cognitive activity, was administered on the respondents as well as the Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ) intended to measure a person's susceptibility to explanations offered by conspiracy theories about societal phenomena. The respondents NCS-6 total weighted mean indicated that a need for challenging cognitive activity was neither characteristic nor uncharacteristic of them. However, their CMQ total weighted mean showed that they believe conspiracy theories very likely explain societal phenomena. The results also indicated a statistically significant low positive relationship between the respondents' NCS-6 scores and CMQ scores. This implies that as the respondents' need for challenging cognitive activity rises, their susceptibility to explanations offered by conspiracy theories about societal phenomena slightly increase as well. In addition, a significant difference was also established between the respondents' Need for Cognition Scale scores when grouped according to presence or absence of romantic involvement.
Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2021
Despite regular reference to conspiracy theories as a "belief system, " few studies have attempted to explore the structure and organization of conspiracy beliefs beyond an examination of correlations between those beliefs. Employing unique data from two national surveys that includes respondent beliefs in 27 conspiracy theories, we decipher the substantive dimensions along which conspiracy beliefs are organized, as well as subgroupings within those dimensions. We find that variation in these conspiracy beliefs can be accounted for with two dimensions: the first regards partisan and ideological identities, while the other is composed of antisocial orientations, such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and acceptance of political violence. Importantly, these two dimensions are uncorrelated. We also find that conspiracy beliefs group together by substantive content, such as those regarding partisan actors or science/medicine. Our findings also demonstrate that inferences about the correlates of conspiracy beliefs are highly contingent on the specific conspiracy theories employed by researchers. We provide suggestions for future research in this vein.
What Drives Conspiracy Beliefs?
Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? This study breaks from much previous research and attempts to explain conspiratorial beliefs with traditional theories of opinion formation. Specifically, we focus on the reception of informational cues given a set of predispositions (political and conspiratorial). We begin with observational survey data to show that there exists a unique predisposition that drives individuals to one degree or another to believe in conspiracy theories. This predisposition appears orthogonal to partisanship and predicts political behaviors including voter participation. Then a national survey experiment is used to test the effect of an informational cue on belief in a conspiracy theory while accounting for both conspiratorial predispositions and partisanship. Our results provide an explanation for individual-level heterogeneity in the holding of conspiratorial beliefs and also indicate the conditions under which information can drive conspiratorial beliefs.
Social Science Information, 2021
This exploratory study aims at identifying macro-social factors associated with the international variance of belief in conspiracy theories. We computed a Conspiracy Index for 22 Western and non-Western countries based on the results of an online survey on conspiratorial beliefs. Stepwise regression analyses show that more than 70% of the international variance of this Conspiracy Index is explained by the following three national variables: the level of democracy, the unemployment rate, and the perceived level of public sector corruption. Conspiracy theories thus appear to be more commonly endorsed in countries where people cannot take an active part in the political life of their country (low level of democracy), where they may feel socially threatened (high unemployment rate), and where institutions and authorities are perceived as untrustworthy (high perception of public sector corruption).
Monological or Ideological? Themes and Psychosocial Predictors of Conspiracy Belief
2023
Research in conspiracy theories has aimed to categorise beliefs, understand motivations, and investigate predictors in order to better understand their adoption. A growing body of research exists investigating conspiracy theories as means for satisfying different psychological and social needs, thought to be related to different cognitive styles, personality, and ideologies. To expand on this, the current study investigates a number of conspiracy theories through factor analysis, and psychosocial correlates of each factor. Factor analysis suggests conspiracy theories of similar topics tend to group together in their level of endorsement. Factors cover government malfeasance, anti-scientific rhetoric, extraterrestrials, new-age spirituality, and political/social views. Correlation and regression analyses show differing relationships between each factor and psychosocial factors including political/ideological values, personality traits, demographics, and social media platform usage. The findings add to understanding around different pathways to conspiracy beliefs and why different groups may be susceptible to certain theories. This knowledge may inform a more nuanced approach to intervention than currently used generic approaches.