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24/05/2022

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Confused, threatened, and isolated: conspiracy beliefs in the pandemic era

Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara, Caterina Suitner

University of Padova

 

Conspiracy beliefs are widespread phenomena with a concrete impact on societies’ development. Some of the major scientific challenges related to conspiracy beliefs are understanding why people believe in conspiracy beliefs, and what are the consequences of endorsing such beliefs. Related to the antecedents of conspiracy beliefs, even if conspiracy theories are diverse in their content, previous research highlighted that believing in them is rooted in common psychological processes. In particular, the conceptualization of conspiracy beliefs as a response to unsatisfied psychological needs is becoming an emerging framework (Douglas et al., 2019). However, previous evidence only focused on linking proxy variables of psychological needs (e.g., automatic thinking style, anxiety, distrust) to conspiracy beliefs, while it is unclear whether conspiracy beliefs are used when specific psychological needs (i.e., epistemic, existential, and social) are frustrated. In this study, we built a scale aimed in measured participants’ psychological needs, how they try to satisfy their needs, and the satisfaction of their psychological needs. N = 1420 participants took part in the data collection. Results from the exploratory factor analysis suggest a 4-factors structure for the subscale of psychological needs, and a 4-factors structure for the subscale of psychological needs satisfaction. Both general conspiracy beliefs and conspiracy beliefs related to the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with lower epistemic and social needs satisfaction, whereas satisfaction of existential needs is not associated with conspiracy beliefs. Moreover, needs satisfaction is positively associated with mainstream information source use, which is associated with lower conspiracy beliefs. Implications for the management of the COVID-19 situation and the compliance with medical guidelines are discussed.

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