When we are worried, what are we thinking? Anxiety, lack of control, and conspiracy beliefs amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic

Societal crises and stressful events are associated with an upsurge of conspiracy beliefs that may help people to tackle feelings of lack of control. In our study (N = 783), we examined whether people with higher feelings of anxiety and lack of control early in the COVID‐19 pandemic endorse more con...

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Vydáno v:Applied cognitive psychology Ročník 35; číslo 3; s. 720 - 729
Hlavní autoři: Šrol, Jakub, Ballová Mikušková, Eva, Čavojová, Vladimíra
Médium: Journal Article
Jazyk:angličtina
Vydáno: England Wiley 01.05.2021
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Témata:
Anxiety
Attitudes
Beliefs
Conspiracy
conspiracy beliefs
Control
COVID-19
Emotional Response
Emotional responses
Emotions
epistemically suspect beliefs
lack of control
Locus of Control
Misconceptions
Pandemics
Psychological Patterns
Stressful events
anxiety
lack of control
COVID‐19
epistemically suspect beliefs
conspiracy beliefs
ISSN:0888-4080, 1099-0720
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Shrnutí:Societal crises and stressful events are associated with an upsurge of conspiracy beliefs that may help people to tackle feelings of lack of control. In our study (N = 783), we examined whether people with higher feelings of anxiety and lack of control early in the COVID‐19 pandemic endorse more conspiracy theories. Our results show that a higher perception of risk of COVID‐19 and lower trust in institutions' response to the pandemic were related to feelings of anxiety and lack of control. Feeling the lack of control, but not anxiety, independently predicted COVID‐19 conspiracy theory endorsement. Importantly, COVID‐19 conspiracy beliefs were strongly correlated with generic conspiracy and pseudoscientific beliefs, which were likewise associated with the feeling of lack of control and lower trust in institutions. The results highlight that considering people's emotional responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic is crucial for our understanding of the spread of conspiracy and pseudoscientific beliefs.
Bibliografie:Funding information
Agentúra Ministerstva školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu SR, Grant/Award Number: VEGA 2/0053/21; Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja, Grant/Award Number: APVV‐16‐0153
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Funding information Agentúra Ministerstva školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu SR, Grant/Award Number: VEGA 2/0053/21; Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja, Grant/Award Number: APVV‐16‐0153
ISSN:0888-4080
1099-0720
DOI:10.1002/acp.3798