Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries

Imhoff R 1 , Zimmer F 2 , Klein O 3 , António JHC 4 , Babinska M 5 , Bangerter A 6 Show all authors , Bilewicz M 5 , Blanuša N 7 , Bovan K 7 , Bužarovska R 8 , Cichocka A 9 , Delouvée S 10 , Douglas KM 9 , Dyrendal A 11 , Etienne T 12 , Gjoneska B 13 , Graf S 14 , Gualda E 15 , Hirschberger G 16 , Kende A 17 , Kutiyski Y 12 , Krekó P 17 , Krouwel A 18 , Mari S 19 , Đorđević JM 20 , Panasiti MS 21 , Pantazi M 22 , Petkovski L 23 , Porciello G 21 , Rabelo A 24 , Radu RN 25 , Sava FA 26 , Schepisi M 21 , Sutton RM 9 , Swami V 27 , Thórisdóttir H 28 , Turjačanin V 29 , Wagner-Egger P 30 , Žeželj I 31 , van Prooijen JW 18

Affiliations 

  • 1 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany. [email protected]
  • 2 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
  • 3 Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
  • 4 Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CIEP, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 5 University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
  • 6 University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
  • 7 University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 8 University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, North Macedonia
  • 9 University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
  • 10 Université de Rennes, Rennes, France
  • 11 Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
  • 12 Research Institute Kieskompas, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • 13 Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, North Macedonia
  • 14 University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • 15 Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
  • 16 Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
  • 17 ELTE, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 18 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • 19 University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
  • 20 Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 21 Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • 22 University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  • 23 Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, Skopje, North Macedonia
  • 24 Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
  • 25 University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
  • 26 West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania
  • 27 Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
  • 28 University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
  • 29 University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • 30 Université de Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
  • 31 University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Nat Hum Behav, 2022 Jan 17.
PMID: 35039654 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01258-7

Abstract

People differ in their general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories (that is, conspiracy mentality). Previous research yielded inconsistent findings on the relationship between conspiracy mentality and political orientation, showing a greater conspiracy mentality either among the political right (a linear relation) or amongst both the left and right extremes (a curvilinear relation). We revisited this relationship across two studies spanning 26 countries (combined N = 104,253) and found overall evidence for both linear and quadratic relations, albeit small and heterogeneous across countries. We also observed stronger support for conspiracy mentality among voters of opposition parties (that is, those deprived of political control). Nonetheless, the quadratic effect of political orientation remained significant when adjusting for political control deprivation. We conclude that conspiracy mentality is associated with extreme left- and especially extreme right-wing beliefs, and that this non-linear relation may be strengthened by, but is not reducible to, deprivation of political control.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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