Faculty of Health and Medical Science, School of Psychology, University of Adelaide.
College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University.
Cogn Neuropsychiatry. 2021 Jul;26(4):273-292. doi: 10.1080/13546805.2021.1924650. Epub 2021 May 10.
Conspiracy Theories (CT) are complex belief systems that view the world as being manipulated by multiple actors collaborating in the pursuit of malevolent goals. Although culture, education and sociological factors have been implicated in their development, psychological factors are recognized as important. Certain individual differences, including schizotypy and cognitive processing style, have been shown to make some individuals susceptible to CTs. However, the finding that schizotypy often co-occurs with autism spectrum disorder raises a question as to the relative and potentially confounding role of autistic traits in increasing vulnerability to CT beliefs.
A total of 508 adults were recruited from an international online panel. The study included measures of conspiracy beliefs, schizotypy and autistic traits as well as measures of information searching and cognitive style.
The results confirmed that both autistic and schizotypy traits were positively associated with CT beliefs, but that schizotypy traits were the strongest predictor. Exploratory analyses of cognitive style measures indicated potential avenues for further investigation in relation in differences in cognitive processes that might underlie the development of CTs for in people with autistic traits as opposed to schizotypal traits.
The study was based on a self-report methodology and did not utilise a clinical sample.
Both schizotypal and autistic traits are reliable predictors of conspiracy beliefs, but schizotypy appears to be the stronger predictor and that autistic traits are not a strong confounding factor in this relationship. However, autistic traits may pose an additional risk factor for CT beliefs.
阴谋论（CT）是一种复杂的信仰体系，认为世界是由多个参与者合作追求恶意目标而操纵的。尽管文化、教育和社会学因素都与 CT 的发展有关，但心理因素也被认为是重要的。某些个体差异，包括精神分裂症倾向和认知加工风格，已被证明使一些人容易受到 CT 的影响。然而，精神分裂症倾向经常与自闭症谱系障碍同时发生，这提出了一个问题，即自闭症特征在增加对 CT 信仰的易感性方面的相对和潜在的混杂作用。
共有 508 名成年人从国际在线小组中招募。该研究包括 CT 信念、精神分裂症倾向和自闭症特征的测量，以及信息搜索和认知风格的测量。
结果证实，自闭症和精神分裂症倾向都与 CT 信念呈正相关，但精神分裂症倾向是最强的预测因素。对认知风格测量的探索性分析表明，在与自闭症特征而非精神分裂症特征相关的认知过程差异方面，可能有进一步研究的途径，以了解 CT 在具有自闭症特征的人群中的发展。
该研究基于自我报告方法，并未使用临床样本。
精神分裂症倾向和自闭症特征都是 CT 信念的可靠预测因素，但精神分裂症倾向似乎是更强的预测因素，而自闭症特征在这种关系中不是一个强烈的混杂因素。然而，自闭症特征可能是 CT 信念的另一个附加风险因素。
