Cross-national differences in willingness to believe conspiracy theories

Matthew J Hornsey; Samuel Pearson

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101391

Cross-national differences in willingness to believe conspiracy theories

Curr Opin Psychol. 2022 Oct:47:101391. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101391. Epub 2022 Jun 13.

Authors

Matthew J Hornsey¹, Samuel Pearson²

Affiliations

¹ University of Queensland Business School, University of Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: m.hornsey@uq.edu.au.
² University of Queensland Business School, University of Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 35830765
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101391

Abstract

Conspiracy beliefs are not just generated by "under-the-skull" individual factors, but are shaped also by cultural, economic, and institutional realities. A scan of the literature-complemented by our own secondary data analyses-suggests a reasonable convergence of evidence that conspiracy beliefs are higher in nations that are more corrupt, more collectivist, and lower in GDP per capita. There is some evidence that conspiracy beliefs may also be shaped by economic inequality, power distance, and authoritarianism, although the evidence base is thin. We also review literature that examines how individual correlates of conspiracy beliefs vary across nations. We discuss challenges associated with conducting international research on conspiracy beliefs and chart a future research agenda for creating truly global insights into conspiracist thinking.

Keywords: Conspiracies; Culture; Democracy; Government trust.

Publication types

Review