Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK.
Br J Psychol. 2011 Aug;102(3):443-63. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.2010.02004.x. Epub 2011 Feb 25.
Despite evidence of widespread belief in conspiracy theories, there remains a dearth of research on the individual difference correlates of conspiracist ideation. In two studies, we sought to overcome this limitation by examining correlations between conspiracist ideation and a range of individual psychological factors. In Study 1, 817 Britons indicated their agreement with conspiracist ideation concerning the July 7, 2005 (7/7), London bombings, and completed a battery of individual difference scales. Results showed that stronger belief in 7/7 conspiracy theories was predicted by stronger belief in other real-world conspiracy theories, greater exposure to conspiracist ideation, higher political cynicism, greater support for democratic principles, more negative attitudes to authority, lower self-esteem, and lower Agreeableness. In Study 2, 281 Austrians indicated their agreement with an entirely fictitious conspiracy theory and completed a battery of individual difference measures not examined in Study 1. Results showed that belief in the entirely fictitious conspiracy theory was significantly associated with stronger belief in other real-world conspiracy theories, stronger paranormal beliefs, and lower crystallized intelligence. These results are discussed in terms of the potential of identifying individual difference constellations among conspiracy theorists.
尽管有证据表明人们普遍相信阴谋论，但关于阴谋论思想的个体差异相关性的研究仍然很少。在两项研究中，我们试图通过研究阴谋论思想与一系列个体心理因素之间的相关性来克服这一局限性。在研究 1 中，817 名英国人表示他们同意关于 2005 年 7 月 7 日伦敦爆炸案的阴谋论观点，并完成了一系列个体差异量表。结果表明，对 7/7 阴谋论的更强信念可以由对其他现实世界阴谋论的更强信念、更多接触阴谋论思想、更高的政治犬儒主义、更大的民主原则支持、对权威的更消极态度、更低的自尊心和更低的宜人性来预测。在研究 2 中，281 名奥地利人表示他们同意一个完全虚构的阴谋论，并完成了研究 1 中未检查的一系列个体差异措施。结果表明，对完全虚构的阴谋论的信仰与对其他现实世界阴谋论的更强信念、更强的超自然信仰以及更低的晶体智力显著相关。这些结果是根据在阴谋论者中识别个体差异组合的潜力来讨论的。
