Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries

Roland Imhoff; Felix Zimmer; Olivier Klein; João H.C. António; Maria Babinska; Adrian Bangerter; Michal Bilewicz; Nebojša Blanuša; Kosta Bovan; Rumena Bužarovska; Aleksandra Cichocka; Sylvain Delouvée; Karen M. Douglas; Asbjørn Dyrendal; Tom Etienne; Biljana Gjoneska; Sylvie Graf; Estrella Gualda; Gilad Hirschberger; Anna Kende; Yordan Kutiyski; Peter Krekó; Andre Krouwel; Silvia Mari; Jasna Milošević Đorđević; Maria Serena Panasiti; Myrto Pantazi; Ljupcho Petkovski; Giuseppina Porciello; André Rabelo; Raluca Nicoleta Radu; Florin A. Sava; Michael Schepisi; Robbie M. Sutton; Viren Swami; Hulda Þórisdóttir; Vladimir Turjačanin; Pascal Wagner-Egger; Iris Žeželj; Jan Willem van Prooijen

doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01258-7

Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries

Roland Imhoff^*, Felix Zimmer, Olivier Klein, João H.C. António, Maria Babinska, Adrian Bangerter, Michal Bilewicz, Nebojša Blanuša, Kosta Bovan, Rumena Bužarovska, Aleksandra Cichocka, Sylvain Delouvée, Karen M. Douglas, Asbjørn Dyrendal, Tom Etienne, Biljana Gjoneska, Sylvie Graf, Estrella Gualda, Gilad Hirschberger, Anna KendeYordan Kutiyski, Peter Krekó, Andre Krouwel, Silvia Mari, Jasna Milošević Đorđević, Maria Serena Panasiti, Myrto Pantazi, Ljupcho Petkovski, Giuseppina Porciello, André Rabelo, Raluca Nicoleta Radu, Florin A. Sava, Michael Schepisi, Robbie M. Sutton, Viren Swami, Hulda Þórisdóttir, Vladimir Turjačanin, Pascal Wagner-Egger, Iris Žeželj, Jan Willem van Prooijen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Faculty of Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

People differ in their general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories (that is, conspiracy mentality). Previous research yielded inconsistent findings on the relationship between conspiracy mentality and political orientation, showing a greater conspiracy mentality either among the political right (a linear relation) or amongst both the left and right extremes (a curvilinear relation). We revisited this relationship across two studies spanning 26 countries (combined N = 104,253) and found overall evidence for both linear and quadratic relations, albeit small and heterogeneous across countries. We also observed stronger support for conspiracy mentality among voters of opposition parties (that is, those deprived of political control). Nonetheless, the quadratic effect of political orientation remained significant when adjusting for political control deprivation. We conclude that conspiracy mentality is associated with extreme left- and especially extreme right-wing beliefs, and that this non-linear relation may be strengthened by, but is not reducible to, deprivation of political control.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	392-403
Number of pages	12
Journal	Nature Human Behaviour
Volume	6
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01258-7
Publication status	Published - 17 Jan 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work has been coordinated, presented and discussed within the framework of EU COST Action CA15101 ‘Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories (COMPACT)’. German data stem from the 2014 Innovation Sample of the Socio-Economic Panel83(SOEP). Data from the Andalusian survey conducted in Spain come from the research project ‘Conspiracy Theories and Disinformation’ directed by Estrella Gualda (University of Huelva, Spain), whose fieldwork was supported and executed by the Institute of Advanced Social Studies (IESA-CSIC) in the context of a grant received for executing the 5th Wave of the Citizen’s Panel Survey for Social Research in Andalusia (ref. EP-1707, PIE 201710E018, IESA/CSIC, https://panelpacis.net/ ; E.G.). The Czech part of the study was supported by grant 20-01214S (S.G.) from the Czech Science Foundation and by RVO: 68081740 (S.G.) of the Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

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Imhoff, R., Zimmer, F., Klein, O., António, J. H. C., Babinska, M., Bangerter, A., Bilewicz, M., Blanuša, N., Bovan, K., Bužarovska, R., Cichocka, A., Delouvée, S., Douglas, K. M., Dyrendal, A., Etienne, T., Gjoneska, B., Graf, S., Gualda, E., Hirschberger, G., ... van Prooijen, J. W. (2022). Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(3), 392-403. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01258-7

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abstract = "People differ in their general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories (that is, conspiracy mentality). Previous research yielded inconsistent findings on the relationship between conspiracy mentality and political orientation, showing a greater conspiracy mentality either among the political right (a linear relation) or amongst both the left and right extremes (a curvilinear relation). We revisited this relationship across two studies spanning 26 countries (combined N = 104,253) and found overall evidence for both linear and quadratic relations, albeit small and heterogeneous across countries. We also observed stronger support for conspiracy mentality among voters of opposition parties (that is, those deprived of political control). Nonetheless, the quadratic effect of political orientation remained significant when adjusting for political control deprivation. We conclude that conspiracy mentality is associated with extreme left- and especially extreme right-wing beliefs, and that this non-linear relation may be strengthened by, but is not reducible to, deprivation of political control.",

author = "Roland Imhoff and Felix Zimmer and Olivier Klein and Ant{\'o}nio, {Jo{\~a}o H.C.} and Maria Babinska and Adrian Bangerter and Michal Bilewicz and Neboj{\v s}a Blanu{\v s}a and Kosta Bovan and Rumena Bu{\v z}arovska and Aleksandra Cichocka and Sylvain Delouv{\'e}e and Douglas, {Karen M.} and Asbj{\o}rn Dyrendal and Tom Etienne and Biljana Gjoneska and Sylvie Graf and Estrella Gualda and Gilad Hirschberger and Anna Kende and Yordan Kutiyski and Peter Krek{\'o} and Andre Krouwel and Silvia Mari and {\D}or{\d}evi{\'c}, {Jasna Milo{\v s}evi{\'c}} and Panasiti, {Maria Serena} and Myrto Pantazi and Ljupcho Petkovski and Giuseppina Porciello and Andr{\'e} Rabelo and Radu, {Raluca Nicoleta} and Sava, {Florin A.} and Michael Schepisi and Sutton, {Robbie M.} and Viren Swami and Hulda {\TH}{\'o}risd{\'o}ttir and Vladimir Turja{\v c}anin and Pascal Wagner-Egger and Iris {\v Z}e{\v z}elj and {van Prooijen}, {Jan Willem}",

note = "Funding Information: This work has been coordinated, presented and discussed within the framework of EU COST Action CA15101 {\textquoteleft}Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories (COMPACT){\textquoteright}. German data stem from the 2014 Innovation Sample of the Socio-Economic Panel83(SOEP). Data from the Andalusian survey conducted in Spain come from the research project {\textquoteleft}Conspiracy Theories and Disinformation{\textquoteright} directed by Estrella Gualda (University of Huelva, Spain), whose fieldwork was supported and executed by the Institute of Advanced Social Studies (IESA-CSIC) in the context of a grant received for executing the 5th Wave of the Citizen{\textquoteright}s Panel Survey for Social Research in Andalusia (ref. EP-1707, PIE 201710E018, IESA/CSIC, https://panelpacis.net/ ; E.G.). The Czech part of the study was supported by grant 20-01214S (S.G.) from the Czech Science Foundation and by RVO: 68081740 (S.G.) of the Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

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Imhoff, R, Zimmer, F, Klein, O, António, JHC, Babinska, M, Bangerter, A, Bilewicz, M, Blanuša, N, Bovan, K, Bužarovska, R, Cichocka, A, Delouvée, S, Douglas, KM, Dyrendal, A, Etienne, T, Gjoneska, B, Graf, S, Gualda, E, Hirschberger, G, Kende, A, Kutiyski, Y, Krekó, P, Krouwel, A, Mari, S, Đorđević, JM, Panasiti, MS, Pantazi, M, Petkovski, L, Porciello, G, Rabelo, A, Radu, RN, Sava, FA, Schepisi, M, Sutton, RM, Swami, V, Þórisdóttir, H, Turjačanin, V, Wagner-Egger, P, Žeželj, I & van Prooijen, JW 2022, 'Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries', Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 392-403. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01258-7

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AU - Imhoff, Roland

AU - Zimmer, Felix

AU - Klein, Olivier

AU - António, João H.C.

AU - Babinska, Maria

AU - Bangerter, Adrian

AU - Bilewicz, Michal

AU - Blanuša, Nebojša

AU - Bovan, Kosta

AU - Bužarovska, Rumena

AU - Cichocka, Aleksandra

AU - Delouvée, Sylvain

AU - Douglas, Karen M.

AU - Dyrendal, Asbjørn

AU - Etienne, Tom

AU - Gjoneska, Biljana

AU - Graf, Sylvie

AU - Gualda, Estrella

AU - Hirschberger, Gilad

AU - Kende, Anna

AU - Kutiyski, Yordan

AU - Krekó, Peter

AU - Krouwel, Andre

AU - Mari, Silvia

AU - Đorđević, Jasna Milošević

AU - Panasiti, Maria Serena

AU - Pantazi, Myrto

AU - Petkovski, Ljupcho

AU - Porciello, Giuseppina

AU - Rabelo, André

AU - Radu, Raluca Nicoleta

AU - Sava, Florin A.

AU - Schepisi, Michael

AU - Sutton, Robbie M.

AU - Swami, Viren

AU - Þórisdóttir, Hulda

AU - Turjačanin, Vladimir

AU - Wagner-Egger, Pascal

AU - Žeželj, Iris

AU - van Prooijen, Jan Willem

N1 - Funding Information: This work has been coordinated, presented and discussed within the framework of EU COST Action CA15101 ‘Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories (COMPACT)’. German data stem from the 2014 Innovation Sample of the Socio-Economic Panel83(SOEP). Data from the Andalusian survey conducted in Spain come from the research project ‘Conspiracy Theories and Disinformation’ directed by Estrella Gualda (University of Huelva, Spain), whose fieldwork was supported and executed by the Institute of Advanced Social Studies (IESA-CSIC) in the context of a grant received for executing the 5th Wave of the Citizen’s Panel Survey for Social Research in Andalusia (ref. EP-1707, PIE 201710E018, IESA/CSIC, https://panelpacis.net/ ; E.G.). The Czech part of the study was supported by grant 20-01214S (S.G.) from the Czech Science Foundation and by RVO: 68081740 (S.G.) of the Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

PY - 2022/1/17

Y1 - 2022/1/17

N2 - People differ in their general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories (that is, conspiracy mentality). Previous research yielded inconsistent findings on the relationship between conspiracy mentality and political orientation, showing a greater conspiracy mentality either among the political right (a linear relation) or amongst both the left and right extremes (a curvilinear relation). We revisited this relationship across two studies spanning 26 countries (combined N = 104,253) and found overall evidence for both linear and quadratic relations, albeit small and heterogeneous across countries. We also observed stronger support for conspiracy mentality among voters of opposition parties (that is, those deprived of political control). Nonetheless, the quadratic effect of political orientation remained significant when adjusting for political control deprivation. We conclude that conspiracy mentality is associated with extreme left- and especially extreme right-wing beliefs, and that this non-linear relation may be strengthened by, but is not reducible to, deprivation of political control.

AB - People differ in their general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories (that is, conspiracy mentality). Previous research yielded inconsistent findings on the relationship between conspiracy mentality and political orientation, showing a greater conspiracy mentality either among the political right (a linear relation) or amongst both the left and right extremes (a curvilinear relation). We revisited this relationship across two studies spanning 26 countries (combined N = 104,253) and found overall evidence for both linear and quadratic relations, albeit small and heterogeneous across countries. We also observed stronger support for conspiracy mentality among voters of opposition parties (that is, those deprived of political control). Nonetheless, the quadratic effect of political orientation remained significant when adjusting for political control deprivation. We conclude that conspiracy mentality is associated with extreme left- and especially extreme right-wing beliefs, and that this non-linear relation may be strengthened by, but is not reducible to, deprivation of political control.

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Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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