Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

Matthew J. Hornsey; Samuel Pearson; Jemima Kang; Kai Sassenberg; Jolanda Jetten; Paul A.M. Van Lange; Lucia G. Medina; Catherine E. Amiot; Liisi Ausmees; Peter Baguma; Oumar Barry; Maja Becker; Michal Bilewicz; Thomas Castelain; Giulio Costantini; Girts Dimdins; Agustín Espinosa; Gillian Finchilescu; Malte Friese; Roberto González; Nobuhiko Goto; Ángel Gómez; Peter Halama; Ruby Ilustrisimo; Gabriela M. Jiga-Boy; Johannes Karl; Peter Kuppens; Steve Loughnan; Marijana Markovikj; Khairul A. Mastor; Neil McLatchie; Lindsay M. Novak; Blessing N. Onyekachi; Müjde Peker; Muhammad Rizwan; Mark Schaller; Eunkook M. Suh; Sanaz Talaifar; Eddie M.W. Tong; Ana Torres; Rhiannon N. Turner; Christin Melanie Vauclair; Alexander Vinogradov; Zhechen Wang; Victoria Wai Lan Yeung; Brock Bastian

doi:10.1002/ejsp.2888

Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

Matthew J. Hornsey^*, Samuel Pearson, Jemima Kang, Kai Sassenberg, Jolanda Jetten, Paul A.M. Van Lange, Lucia G. Medina, Catherine E. Amiot, Liisi Ausmees, Peter Baguma, Oumar Barry, Maja Becker, Michal Bilewicz, Thomas Castelain, Giulio Costantini, Girts Dimdins, Agustín Espinosa, Gillian Finchilescu, Malte Friese, Roberto GonzálezNobuhiko Goto, Ángel Gómez, Peter Halama, Ruby Ilustrisimo, Gabriela M. Jiga-Boy, Johannes Karl, Peter Kuppens, Steve Loughnan, Marijana Markovikj, Khairul A. Mastor, Neil McLatchie, Lindsay M. Novak, Blessing N. Onyekachi, Müjde Peker, Muhammad Rizwan, Mark Schaller, Eunkook M. Suh, Sanaz Talaifar, Eddie M.W. Tong, Ana Torres, Rhiannon N. Turner, Christin Melanie Vauclair, Alexander Vinogradov, Zhechen Wang, Victoria Wai Lan Yeung, Brock Bastian

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country-level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	78-89
Number of pages	12
Journal	European Journal of Social Psychology
Volume	53
Issue number	1
Early online date	18 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2888
Publication status	Published - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp‐2018/1‐0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV‐20‐0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501‐D125‐01‐1250000).

Funding Information:
Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp-2018/1-0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV-20-0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501-D125-01-1250000).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Funding

Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp‐2018/1‐0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV‐20‐0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501‐D125‐01‐1250000). Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp-2018/1-0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV-20-0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501-D125-01-1250000).

Funders	Funder number
Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research	15110006
Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies	ANID/FONDAL 15130009
Australian Research Council	DP210102292
Australian Research Council
Ministerstwo Edukacji i Nauki	501‐D125‐01‐1250000
Ministerstwo Edukacji i Nauki
Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja	APVV‐20‐0335
Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja
Latvijas Zinātnes Padome	lzp‐2018/1‐0402
Latvijas Zinātnes Padome
Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Social

Keywords

conspiracies
conspiracy beliefs
economic vitality
GDP
political trust

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1002/ejsp.2888

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Cite this

Hornsey, M. J., Pearson, S., Kang, J., Sassenberg, K., Jetten, J., Van Lange, P. A. M., Medina, L. G., Amiot, C. E., Ausmees, L., Baguma, P., Barry, O., Becker, M., Bilewicz, M., Castelain, T., Costantini, G., Dimdins, G., Espinosa, A., Finchilescu, G., Friese, M., ... Bastian, B. (2023). Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(1), 78-89. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2888

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title = "Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance",

abstract = "While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country-level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis.",

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note = "Funding Information: Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp‐2018/1‐0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV‐20‐0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501‐D125‐01‐1250000). Funding Information: Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp-2018/1-0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV-20-0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501-D125-01-1250000). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",

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Hornsey, MJ, Pearson, S, Kang, J, Sassenberg, K, Jetten, J, Van Lange, PAM, Medina, LG, Amiot, CE, Ausmees, L, Baguma, P, Barry, O, Becker, M, Bilewicz, M, Castelain, T, Costantini, G, Dimdins, G, Espinosa, A, Finchilescu, G, Friese, M, González, R, Goto, N, Gómez, Á, Halama, P, Ilustrisimo, R, Jiga-Boy, GM, Karl, J, Kuppens, P, Loughnan, S, Markovikj, M, Mastor, KA, McLatchie, N, Novak, LM, Onyekachi, BN, Peker, M, Rizwan, M, Schaller, M, Suh, EM, Talaifar, S, Tong, EMW, Torres, A, Turner, RN, Vauclair, CM, Vinogradov, A, Wang, Z, Yeung, VWL & Bastian, B 2023, 'Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance', European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 78-89. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2888

TY - JOUR

T1 - Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

AU - Hornsey, Matthew J.

AU - Pearson, Samuel

AU - Kang, Jemima

AU - Sassenberg, Kai

AU - Jetten, Jolanda

AU - Van Lange, Paul A.M.

AU - Medina, Lucia G.

AU - Amiot, Catherine E.

AU - Ausmees, Liisi

AU - Baguma, Peter

AU - Barry, Oumar

AU - Becker, Maja

AU - Bilewicz, Michal

AU - Castelain, Thomas

AU - Costantini, Giulio

AU - Dimdins, Girts

AU - Espinosa, Agustín

AU - Finchilescu, Gillian

AU - Friese, Malte

AU - González, Roberto

AU - Goto, Nobuhiko

AU - Gómez, Ángel

AU - Halama, Peter

AU - Ilustrisimo, Ruby

AU - Jiga-Boy, Gabriela M.

AU - Karl, Johannes

AU - Kuppens, Peter

AU - Loughnan, Steve

AU - Markovikj, Marijana

AU - Mastor, Khairul A.

AU - McLatchie, Neil

AU - Novak, Lindsay M.

AU - Onyekachi, Blessing N.

AU - Peker, Müjde

AU - Rizwan, Muhammad

AU - Schaller, Mark

AU - Suh, Eunkook M.

AU - Talaifar, Sanaz

AU - Tong, Eddie M.W.

AU - Torres, Ana

AU - Turner, Rhiannon N.

AU - Vauclair, Christin Melanie

AU - Vinogradov, Alexander

AU - Wang, Zhechen

AU - Yeung, Victoria Wai Lan

AU - Bastian, Brock

N1 - Funding Information: Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp‐2018/1‐0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV‐20‐0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501‐D125‐01‐1250000). Funding Information: Production of the manuscript was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to the first author (DP210102292). We thank Hilary Grimmer for her assistance in some of the secondary data analyses. Data gathering in Latvia was supported by a grant from the Latvian Council of Science, project No. lzp-2018/1-0402. Data gathering in Slovakia was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency as part of the research project APVV-20-0335. Data gathering for the Philippines was supported with funding from the UPD Social and Political Psychology Research Laboratory. Data gathering in Chile was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAL 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006). Data gathering in Poland was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501-D125-01-1250000). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2023/2

Y1 - 2023/2

N2 - While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country-level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis.

AB - While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country-level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis.

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KW - conspiracy beliefs

KW - economic vitality

KW - GDP

KW - political trust

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Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

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Cite this