Article Synopsis
- The belief in conspiracy theories may not simply stem from a perceived lack of control, despite common assumptions.
- Findings from six online studies indicate that manipulating control doesn't change conspiracy beliefs, even while correlations between the two persist.
- The research suggests that conspiracy theories might not help people cope with feelings of lost control, highlighting discrepancies between different types of evidence and acknowledging study limitations.
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Article Abstract
It is widely believed that conspiracy theory beliefs are the product of perceived lack of control. However, to date there is mixed evidence, at best, to support this claim. We consider the reasons why conspiracy theory beliefs do not appear to be based in any straightforward way on control beliefs, interrogating existing findings and presenting new data that call the relationship into question. Across six studies conducted online using MTurk samples, we observed no effect of control manipulations on conspiracy theory beliefs, while replicating previously reported correlational evidence of their association. The results suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not suitable for compensating for threats to control. We discuss possible reasons for the discrepancy between experimental and correlational effects and examine the limitations of the studies.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7430734 | PMC |
| http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237771 | PLOS |
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