Right-wing authoritarianism as a predictor of pro-establishment versus anti-establishment conspiracy theories

AbstractRight-wing authoritarianism (RWA) has shown inconsistent results as a predictor of beliefs in conspiracy theories (CTs). The present investigation attempted to clarify these results by separating anti-establishment CTs, which challenge the existing social order, from pro-establishment CTs, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and individual differences Vol. 138; pp. 163 - 166
Main Authors: Wood, Michael J, Gray, Debra
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2019
Elsevier Science Ltd
Subjects:
Attitudes
Authoritarianism
Conspiracy
Conspiracy theories
Perpetrators
Political psychology
Power
Psychiatric/Mental Health
Right wing politics
Social order
Conspiracy theories
Political psychology
Authoritarianism
ISSN:0191-8869, 1873-3549
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:AbstractRight-wing authoritarianism (RWA) has shown inconsistent results as a predictor of beliefs in conspiracy theories (CTs). The present investigation attempted to clarify these results by separating anti-establishment CTs, which challenge the existing social order, from pro-establishment CTs, which seek to justify and reinforce it against external threats. In two MTurk samples ( N = 294, 200), RWA correlated strongly with pro-establishment CTs but weakly with anti-establishment CTs. Regression analyses suggest that after controlling for exposure to the CTs, this gap in the predictive power of RWA can be explained by differences in attitudes toward their alleged perpetrators, highlighting the importance of intergroup attitudes as an important driver of CT endorsement.
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ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.036