1. Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity
- Author
-
André Luiz Alves Rabelo, Giuseppina Porciello, Hulda Thórisdóttir, Olivier Klein, Estrella Gualda, Biljana Gjoneska, Aleksandra Cichocka, Thomas Arciszewski, Ljupcho Petkovski, Gilad Hirschberger, Myrto Pantazi, Roland Imhoff, Rumena Bužarovska, Sylvie Graf, Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Felix Zimmer, Pascal Wagner-Egger, Kosta Bovan, Pia Lamberty, Vladimir Turjačanin, Maria Babińska, André Krouwel, Adrian Bangerter, Asbjørn Dyrendal, Jasna Milosevic, JP Prims, Viren Swami, Michael Schepisi, Sylvain Delouvée, Iris Zezelj, Jais Adam-Troian, Robbie M. Sutton, Michał Bilewicz, Anna Kende, Nebojša Blanuša, Silvia Mari, Matt Motyl, Maria Serena Panasiti, Péter Krekó, Karen M. Douglas, Elif Çelebi, Centre de Recherche en Psychologie de la Connaissance, du Langage et de l'Émotion (PsyCLÉ), Aix Marseille Université (AMU), Communication Science, Network Institute, Communication Choices, Content and Consequences (CCCC), Social Psychology, IBBA, A-LAB, Troian, J, Wagner-Egger, P, Motyl, M, Arciszewski, T, Imhoff, R, Zimmer, F, Klein, O, Babinska, M, Bangerter, A, Bilewicz, M, Blanuša, N, Bovan, K, Bužarovska, R, Cichocka, A, Çelebi, E, Delouvée, S, Douglas, K, Dyrendal, A, Gjoneska, B, Graf, S, Gualda, E, Hirschberger, G, Kende, A, Krekó, P, Krouwel, A, Lamberty, P, Mari, S, Milosevic, J, Panasiti, M, Pantazi, M, Petkovski, L, Porciello, G, Prims, J, Rabelo, A, Schepisi, M, Sutton, R, Swami, W, Thórisdóttir, H, Turjačanin, V, Zezelj, I, and van Prooijen, J
- Subjects
Cultural cognition ,Sociology and Political Science ,Social Psychology ,Psychologie sociale ,Situated cognition ,media_common.quotation_subject ,conspiracist beliefs ,cultural values ,situated cognition ,collectivism ,masculinity ,cross-cultural ,Conspiracist beliefs ,[SHS.PSY]Humanities and Social Sciences/Psychology ,050109 social psychology ,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology ,cultural value ,Key (music) ,conspiracy theories ,Psychologie politique ,050602 political science & public administration ,Cross-cultural ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,media_common ,M-PSI/05 - PSICOLOGIA SOCIALE ,Cultural values ,05 social sciences ,Perspective (graphical) ,Collectivism ,SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities ,0506 political science ,culture ,Philosophy ,Clinical Psychology ,Masculinity ,Political Science and International Relations ,Psychologie inter-culturelle ,[SCCO.PSYC]Cognitive science/Psychology ,conspiracist belief ,Psychology ,61 Psicología ,Social psychology - Abstract
Research suggests that belief in conspiracy theories (CT) stems from basic psychological mechanisms and is linked to other belief systems (e.g. religious beliefs). While previous research has extensively examined individual and contextual variables associated with CT beliefs, it has not yet investigated the role of culture. In the current research, we tested, based on a situated cultural cognition perspective, the extent to which culture predicts CT beliefs. Using Hofstede’s model of cultural values, three nation-level analyses of data from 25, 19 and 18 countries using different measures of CT beliefs (Study 1, N = 5,323; Study 2a, N = 12,255; Study 2b, N = 30,994) revealed positive associations between Masculinity, Collectivism and CT beliefs. A cross-sectional study among US citizens (Study 3, N = 350), using individual-level measures of Hofstede’s values, replicated these findings. A meta-analysis of correlations across studies corroborated the presence of positive links between CT beliefs, Collectivism, r = .31, 95%CI = [.15; 47] and Masculinity, r = .39, 95%CI = [.18; 59]. Our results suggest that in addition to individual-differences and contextual variables, cultural factors also play an important role in shaping CT beliefs., info:eu-repo/semantics/inPress
- Published
- 2021