Civil Society, Human Rights, German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), Bonn, Germany.
Int J Psychol. 2022 Feb;57(1):43-48. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12769. Epub 2021 May 5.
Conspiracy beliefs are ubiquitous in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This may be because they directly affect own and others' health and economic outcomes due to detrimental effects on preventive behaviour. We aimed to (a) test key hypotheses on the correlates of generic beliefs in conspiracy theories in this high-threat real-life setting, (b) examine the role of trust in mediating effects of conspiracy beliefs on preventive behaviour, and (c) thereby inform the public health response. Using cross-sectional data (N = 1013) from the German COVID-19 monitoring we tested the relationships between conspiracy beliefs and (a) social and economic worries, (b) trust in media, the government, public health institutions, and science, and (c) hygiene-related and contact-related preventive behaviour. Results were in line with expectations apart from null findings for the relationships with social worries and hygiene-related preventive behaviour. Trust in government mediated effects of conspiracy beliefs on contact-related preventive behaviour.
阴谋论在当前的 COVID-19 大流行中无处不在。这可能是因为它们对预防行为产生有害影响，从而直接影响自己和他人的健康和经济结果。我们旨在 (a) 在这种高威胁的现实环境中检验关于一般阴谋论信仰的相关假设，(b) 研究信任在阴谋论信仰对预防行为的中介作用中的作用，以及 (c) 从而为公共卫生应对提供信息。我们使用来自德国 COVID-19 监测的横断面数据（N = 1013），检验了阴谋论信仰与 (a) 社会和经济担忧，(b) 对媒体、政府、公共卫生机构和科学的信任，以及 (c) 与卫生相关和与接触相关的预防行为之间的关系。结果与预期一致，除了与社会担忧和与卫生相关的预防行为之间的关系没有发现结果外。对政府的信任中介了阴谋论信仰对与接触相关的预防行为的影响。
