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Psychological correlates of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures: evidence from turkey.
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Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic has led to popular conspiracy theories regarding its origins and widespread concern over the level of compliance with preventive measures. In the current preregistered research, we recruited 1088 Turkish participants and investigated (a) individual differences associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs; (b) whether such conspiracy beliefs are related to the level of preventive measures; and (c) other individual differences that might be related to the preventive measures. Higher faith in intuition, uncertainty avoidance, impulsivity, generic conspiracy beliefs, religiosity, and right-wing ideology, and a lower level of cognitive reflection were associated with a higher level of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. There was no association between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures while perceived risk was positively and impulsivity negatively correlated with preventive measures. We discuss the implications and directions for future research.
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“Some recent studies have already implicated such a possibility by demonstrating that a lack of trust in the government is related to a higher acceptance of conspiracy theories (Bruder and Kunert, 2020) that is by itself related to the higher fear/anxiety related to COVID-19 (Alper et al., 2020; Larsen et al., 2020).”
From Intolerance of Uncertainty and Tendency to Worry as Mediators Between Trust in Institutions and Social Support and Fear of Coronavirus and Consequences of the Pandemic (2021) · cites this paper as Alper et al., 2020
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review
van Mulukom, V., Pummerer, L., Alper, S., Bai, H., Čavojová, V., Farias, J. E. M., Kay, C. S., Lazarević, L. B., Lobato, E. J. C., Marinthe, G., et al. (2022) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114912 · Cited by 437
“However, there was also a small number of studies that did not find a relation (Alper et al., 2020; Čavojová et al., 2022; Juanchich et al., 2021) or no unique effect of COVID conspiracy beliefs on COVID-19 guideline adherence (Díaz and Cova, 2020; Soveri et al., 2021).”
InfluentialHornik, R., Kikut, A., Jesch, E., Woko, C., Siegel, L. N., & Kim, K. (2020) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2020.1847437 · Cited by 189
Pian, W., Chi, J., & Ma, F. (2021) · Information Processing & Management · doi:10.1016/j.ipm.2021.102713 · Cited by 198
“…quantitatively investigated: people with certain ideological characteristics (e.g., general skepticism, cultural/political orientation, and conservatism) were found more susceptible to rumors (Calvillo et al., 2020; Alper et al., 2020; Georgiou et al., 2020; Biddlestone et al., 2020; Havey, 2020).”
BackgroundThe role of conspiracy beliefs for COVID-19 health responses: A meta-analysis
Bierwiaczonek, K., Gundersen, A. B., & Kunst, J. R. (2022) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101346 · Cited by 160
Sallam, M., Al-Mahzoum, K., Dardas, L. A., Al‐Tammemi, A. B., Al-Majali, L., Al-Naimat, H., Jardaneh, L., AlHadidi, F., Al‐Salahat, K., Al-Ajlouni, E., et al. (2022) · Medicina · doi:10.3390/medicina58070924 · Cited by 126
“, and the adoption of these harmful beliefs [45,77].”
BackgroundBanai, I. P., Banai, B., & Mikloušić, I. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01898-y · Cited by 118
“These factors were shown to be related to the conspiracy beliefs (e.g., Alper et al., 2020; Sallam et al., 2021).”
BackgroundMaftei, A., & Holman, A. C. (2020) · Ethics & Behavior · doi:10.1080/10508422.2020.1843171 · Cited by 86
Díaz, R., & Cova, F. (2021) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2021.1941783 · Cited by 88
“Similarly mixed results are found when looking at conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 in particular (see Erceg et al., 2020; Freeman et al., 2020; in contrast to Romer & Jamieson, 2020; Alper et al., 2020).”
ResultGligorić, V., da Silva, M. M., Eker, S., van Hoek, N., Nieuwenhuijzen, E., Popova, U., & Zeighami, G. (2021) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.3844 · Cited by 74
“Analytical Thinking has been consistently shown to be associated with lower conspir-acy beliefs (e.g., Gligori (cid:1) c et al., 2018; Swami et al., 2014), including COVID-19 related conspiracies (Alper et al., 2020; Stanley et al., 2020).”
BackgroundKuhn, S. A. K., Lieb, R., Freeman, D. H., Andreou, C., & Zander-Schellenberg, T. (2021) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291721001124 · Cited by 97
Ahmad, M., Akhtar, N., Jabeen, G., Irfan, M. F., Anser, M. K., Wu, H., & Işık, C. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18116167 · Cited by 75
“Alper [32] investigated the correlation between COVID-19 conspiracy theories and protection adoption and revealed no link between the two in the Turkish context.”
BackgroundFrom bad to worse: Avoidance coping with stress increases conspiracy beliefs
Marchlewska, M., Green, R., Cichocka, A. K., Molenda, Z., & Douglas, K. M. (2021) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12494 · Cited by 71
Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic reviewPreprint
van Mulukom, V., Pummerer, L., Alper, S., Bai, H., Čavojová, V., Farias, J. E. M., Kay, C. S., Lazarević, L. B., Lobato, E. J. C., Marinthe, G., et al. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/u8yah · Cited by 71
Oleksy, T., Wnuk, A., Gambin, M., & Łyś, A. (2021) · Social Science & Medicine (1967) · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114028 · Cited by 35
“On the other hand, some studies find no significant association between conspiracy theories and adherence to preventive measures (Alper et al., 2020; Čavojova et al., 2020; Díaz and Cova, 2020; Plohl and Musil, 2020).”
A framework for understanding reasoning errors: From fake news to climate change and beyond
Pennycook, G. (2022) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2022.11.003 · Cited by 95
Reflective thinking predicts lower conspiracy beliefs: A meta-analysis
Yelbuz, B. E., Madan, E., & Alper, S. (2022) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500008913 · Cited by 76
Contemporary trends in psychological research on conspiracy beliefs. A systematic review
Pilch, I., Turska–Kawa, A., Wardawy-Dudziak, P., Olszanecka-Marmola, A., & Smołkowska-Jędo, W. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1075779 · Cited by 76
“, 2021) or even positive relationships (Alper et al., 2021; Corbu et al., 2021; Wang and Kim, 2021) between these variables were reported.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialHan, H. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110787 · Cited by 69
Intuition, reason, and conspiracy beliefs
Binnendyk, J., & Pennycook, G. (2022) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101387 · Cited by 64
Tonković, M., Dumančić, F., Jelić, M., & Biruški, D. Č. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.643568 · Cited by 88
Farias, J. E. M., & Pilati, R. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01416-0 · Cited by 56
“Besides, uncertainty avoidance has been associated with a higher level of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories (Alper et al., 2020).”
BackgroundExploring the Effect of Collective Cultural Attributes on Covid-19-Related Public Health Outcomes
Erman, A., & Medeiros, M. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.627669 · Cited by 55
Ripp, T., & Röer, J. P. (2022) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-022-00771-2 · Cited by 57
“Two studies examined a Polish sample [25, 26], and one sample each was collected in Serbia [22] and Turkey [24].”
InfluentialNurse, M. S., Ross, R. M., İşler, O., & Rooy, D. V. (2021) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-021-01219-5 · Cited by 52
“These findings are consistent with similar research on beliefs about COVID-19 misinformation in Canada, Italy, Iran, Slovakia, Turkey, the United States, and the UK (Alper et al., 2020; Čavojová et al., 2020; Pennycook, McPhetres, Bago, et al., 2021; Sadeghiyeh et al., 2020; Salvi et al., 2021).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialFrenken, M., Bilewicz, M., & Imhoff, R. (2022) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12822 · Cited by 66
Alper, S., & Imhoff, R. (2022) · Social Psychology and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/19485506221113965 · Cited by 48
Wu, Y., Kuru, O., Campbell, S. W., & Baruh, L. (2022) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2021.2010891 · Cited by 59
“Also, it supports evidence from a recent study conducted in Turkey that showed higher FI was associated with a higher level of belief in Covid-19 conspiracy theories (Alper et al., 2020).”
ResultImpact of COVID-19 First Wave on Psychological and Psychosocial Dimensions: A Systematic Review
Filindassi, V., Pedrini, C., Sabadini, C., Duradoni, M., & Guazzini, A. (2022) · COVID · doi:10.3390/covid2030022 · Cited by 56
“On the contrary, conspiracy theories [18,45,90,103,167], impulsivity [48], self-centered behaviors [18,49,136], outdoor sports [104] and low conscientiousness score [146] were negatively associated with the adherence to the preventive behaviors.”
BackgroundInfluentialRothmund, T., Farkhari, F., Ziemer, C., & Azevedo, F. (2022) · Public Understanding of Science · doi:10.1177/09636625211068131 · Cited by 52
Kantorowicz‐Reznichenko, E., Folmer, C. R., & Kantorowicz, J. (2022) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2022.111666 · Cited by 50
Irrational Beliefs about COVID-19: A Scoping Review
Magarini, F. M., Pinelli, M., Sinisi, A., Ferrari, S., Fazio, G. L. D., & Galeazzi, G. M. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18199839 · Cited by 47
“a positive correlation with faith in intuition, and with lack of sensibility to a contradiction, both typical characteristics of irrational thinking [72,79].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialBaeza-Rivera, M. J., Salazar-Fernández, C., Leal, L. A., & Manríquez-Robles, D. (2021) · Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology · doi:10.1177/18344909211051799 · Cited by 50
Filkuková, P., Ayton, P., Rand, K., & Langguth, J. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.588478 · Cited by 47
Tsamakis, K., Tsiptsios, D., Stubbs, B., Ma, R., Romano, E., Mueller, C., Ahmad, A., Triantafyllis, A. S., Tsitsas, G. D., & Dragioti, E. (2022) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-022-00959-6 · Cited by 50
“In regards with perceived risk/perceived threat from COVID-19, three studies showed that it was inversely related with conspiracy theories [8, 36, 39] On the contrary, one study showed that beliefs in conspiracy theories were positively related to perceived risk [30].”
BackgroundResultZhai, Y., & Yan, Z. (2022) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.1177/00332941221079727 · Cited by 19
“Previous studies have found that conservatives have more conspiracy beliefs (Alper et al., 2020; Enders et al., 2020; Pasek et al., 2015).”
BackgroundResultThe generic conspiracist beliefs scale – 5: A short-form measure of conspiracist ideation
Kay, C. S., & Slovic, P. (2022) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2022.104315 · Cited by 43
The impact of COVID-19 misinformation and trust in institutions on preventive behaviors
Lee, S. J., Lee, C., & Hwang, H. (2022) · Health Education Research · doi:10.1093/her/cyac038 · Cited by 39
Dean, C. E., Akhtar, S., Gale, T. M., Irvine, K., Grohmann, D., & Laws, K. R. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0267360 · Cited by 56
Tang, Y., Luo, C., & Su, Y. (2023) · Online Information Review · doi:10.1108/oir-04-2023-0157 · Cited by 37
Blauza, S., Heuckmann, B., Kremer, K., & Büssing, A. G. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-02415-x · Cited by 34
“Therefore, future studies should more explicitly investigate this connection, as the missing hypothetical distance may be one key factor for people disbelieving the governmental information, besides other personality related factors (Alper et al., 2020; Marinthe et al., 2020).”
BackgroundWismans, A., Letina, S., Wennberg, K. J., Thurik, R., Baptista, R., Burke, A., Dejardin, M., Janssen, F., Santarelli, E., Torrès, O., et al. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110925 · Cited by 33
“Three studies (two of which non peer reviewed) have been conducted studying the link between self-reported impulsivity and compliance, all showing a strong negative association (Kuiper et al., 2020; Van Rooij et al., 2020; Alper et al., 2020).”
InfluentialSwami, V., & Barron, D. S. (2021) · Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology · doi:10.1177/18344909211037385 · Cited by 40
“…stronger belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and reduced compliance with mandated requirements (e.g., Bierwiaczonek et al., 2020; Fazio et al., 2021; Freeman et al., 2021; Rieger, 2020; but see Alper et al., 2021) and lower intention to reduce the spread of COVID-19 (Biddlestone et al., 2020).”
BackgroundKooistra, E. B., & van Rooij, B. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.31234/osf.io/c5x2k · Cited by 33
Byrd, N., & Białek, M. (2021) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104649 · Cited by 32
Howard, M. C., & Davis, M. M. (2022) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/13591053221096013 · Cited by 32
“…(Georgiou et al., 2020; Hughes and Machan, 2021; Jovančević and Milićević, 2020), and authors have begun to study broader outcomes of these beliefs (Alper et al., 2021; Leibovitz et al., 2021). van Prooijen et al. (2021), for example, empirically supported that COVID-19 conspir-acy beliefs relate…”
BackgroundFactors associated with the belief in COVID-19 related conspiracy theories in Pakistan
Ejaz, W., Ittefaq, M., Seo, H., & Naz, F. (2021) · Health Risk & Society · doi:10.1080/13698575.2021.1929865 · Cited by 30
Both a bioweapon and a hoax: the curious case of contradictory conspiracy theories about COVID-19
Petrović, M., & Žeželj, I. (2021) · Thinking & Reasoning · doi:10.1080/13546783.2022.2088618 · Cited by 23
Нестик, Т. А., Deyneka, O. S., & MAKSIMENKO, A. A. (2020) · Social Psychology and Society · doi:10.17759/sps.2020110407 · Cited by 28
A framework for understanding reasoning errors: From fake news to climate change and beyondPreprint
Pennycook, G. (2022) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/j3w7d · Cited by 27
Colautti, L., Cancer, A., Magenes, S., Antonietti, A., & Iannello, P. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19031189 · Cited by 26
“In addition to this, it is positively correlated to the tendency to believe in fake news and to endorse conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 (see for example [31,33,34]).”
BackgroundSkepticism, cynicism, and cognitive style predictors of the generality of unsubstantiated belief
Bensley, D. A., Watkins, C., Lilienfeld, S. O., Masciocchi, C. M., Murtagh, M. P., & Rowan, K. A. (2021) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.3900 · Cited by 26
Erişen, C. (2022) · International Political Science Review · doi:10.1177/01925121221084625 · Cited by 24
“More importantly, neither of these characteristics influences compliance or vaccination preferences, implying that further research on individual differences would be worthwhile (Alper et al., 2021).”
BackgroundCritical Thinking, Intelligence, and Unsubstantiated Beliefs: An Integrative Review
Bensley, D. A. (2023) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence11110207 · Cited by 21
“REI intuitive–experiential thinking style was also positively correlated with belief in complementary and alternative medicine (Lindeman 2011), conspiracy theory belief (Alper et al. 2020), and with endorsement of psychological misconceptions (Bensley et al. 2014; Bensley et al. 2022).”
ResultWang, J., & Kim, S. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph182211825 · Cited by 20
“Conversely, some studies contradict the dominant finding that conspiracy beliefs have negative effects, finding no correlation between beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracies and recommended behaviors to prevent COVID-19 [57,58].”
ResultČavojová, V., Šrol, J., & Mikušková, E. B. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-023-04284-y · Cited by 19
“There are some exceptions though (Alper et al., 2020; Juanchich et al., 2021).”
Gvozden, T. V., Baucal, A., Krstic, K., & Filipović, S. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.737188 · Cited by 18
“Some recent studies have already implicated such a possibility by demonstrating that a lack of trust in the government is related to a higher acceptance of conspiracy theories (Bruder and Kunert, 2020) that is by itself related to the higher fear/anxiety related to COVID-19 (Alper et al., 2020; Larsen et al., 2020).”
BackgroundBoth‐Sideology Endangers Democracy and Social Science
Jost, J. T. (2024) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/josi.12633 · Cited by 23
Adherence to COVID-19 mitigation measures: The role of sociodemographic and personality factors
Turk, E., Čelik, T., Smrdu, M., Šet, J., Kuder, A., Gregorič, M., & Kralj‐Fišer, S. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-02051-5 · Cited by 19
“While open-minded individuals are generally more likely to seek health-related information and understand and follow medical advice (Beier & Ackerman, 2003; Bogg & Vo, 2014; Alper et al., 2020), COVID-19 studies provide mixed results.”
BackgroundUptake of COVID-19 Booster Dose among Saudi Arabian Population
Alshahrani, N. Z., Alsabaani, A. A., Ridda, I., Rashid, H., Alzahrani, F., Almutairi, T. H., Alzahrani, B. A. S., & Albeshri, A. S. S. (2022) · Medicina · doi:10.3390/medicina58070972 · Cited by 18
“Previous studies have indicated that social media and other unofficial sources of information were associated with more conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and vaccines, which could explain the lower uptake rates among participants who use them as their sources of information [30,31].”
ResultReligiousness in the first year of COVID-19: A systematic review of empirical research
David, A. B., Park, C. L., Awao, S., Vega, S., Zuckerman, M. S., White, T. F., & Hanna, D. C. (2022) · Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cresp.2022.100075 · Cited by 21
Jones, C., Galbraith, N., Boyda, D., Martin, D., & Jackson, K. (2023) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2023.112155 · Cited by 17
“This approach uses regression analysis with a Wald test to estimate a distal outcome model (Table 6) (Asparouhov & Muthén, 2014; Lanza et al., 2013).”
MethodDyrendal, A., & Hestad, K. (2021) · Approaching Religion · doi:10.30664/ar.107485 · Cited by 9
Predicting COVID-19 conspiracist ideation from the Dark Tetrad traitsPreprint
Kay, C. S. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/j3m2y · Cited by 17
Pennycook, G., Binnendyk, J., & Rand, D. G. (2022) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/d5fz2 · Cited by 20
Salalι, G. D., & Uysal, M. S. (2021) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2021.07.09.21260228 · Cited by 15
The transmission game: Testing behavioral interventions in a pandemic-like simulation
Woike, J. K., Hafenbrädl, S., Kanngiesser, P., & Hertwig, R. (2022) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.abk0428 · Cited by 14
“Previous attempts to implement synchronous interactions in larger groups with crowdsourced participants have experienced high attrition rates ( 43 ), with attrition likely concentrated in impulsive participants—who form a subgroup of interest when studying preventive behavior ( 44 ).”
Duplaga, M. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19148346 · Cited by 14
“Among other factors, the perceived risk from COVID-19 [15–17], trust in science [9], trust in the government’s competence [10,18–21], positive attitudes toward complying with recommendations [14], intellectual curiosity [9], low impulsivity [15] and high empathy [21] were indicated as features favoring the adherence t…”
BackgroundPredictors of COVID-19 Vaccine Intention: Evidence from Chile, Mexico, and Colombia
Salazar-Fernández, C., Baeza-Rivera, M. J., Bustamante, M. V., Bautista, J. A. P., Navarro, R. M., & Pino, M. (2022) · Vaccines · doi:10.3390/vaccines10071129 · Cited by 15
Théories du complot et COVID-19 : comment naissent les croyances complotistes ?
Bottemanne, H. (2022) · L Encéphale · doi:10.1016/j.encep.2021.12.005 · Cited by 17
“ans le cas du coronavirus, des croyances complotistes antérieures ur d’autres thématiques comme la vaccination ou le changement limatique [52] prédisaient aussi la probabilité de développer des royances complotistes liées au virus [78,103].”
Does communist nostalgia lead to COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs?
Ramonaitė, A. (2022) · European Societies · doi:10.1080/14616696.2022.2132525 · Cited by 13
“…is primarily focused on universal psychological factors such as personality features, conspiratorial thinking, open-mindedness, the role of insecurity and political trust (Larsen et al. 2021, Freeman et al. 2022, Šrol et al. 2021, Alper et al. 2020, Sallam et al. 2020, Stoica and Umbres 2021).”
BackgroundWu, Y., Kuru, O., Baruh, L., Çarkoğlu, A., Cemalcılar, Z., & Yıldırım, K. (2023) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2023.2181678 · Cited by 11
“Conspiracy theories are unwarranted statements claiming certain social and political events or circumstances are planned and carried out secretly by one or more powerful, malevolent organizations (Alper et al., 2020; Douglas & Sutton, 2015).”
BackgroundGkinopoulos, T., Pagliaro, S., Pacilli, M. G., Bilewicz, M., Teresi, M., & Ballone, C. (2023) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.3002 · Cited by 14
Caycho‐Rodríguez, T., Valencia, P. D., Vilca, L. W., Carbajal‐León, C., Vivanco-Vidal, A., Saroli-Araníbar, D., Reyes-Bossio, M. A., White, M., Rojas-Jara, C., Polanco-Carrasco, R., et al. (2022) · Trends in Psychology · doi:10.1007/s43076-022-00170-x · Cited by 14
“…with preventive measures to minimize the risk of infection would be associated with a greater perception of uncertainty, higher perceived risk of disease, and high level of perceived stress, which could lead to feeling a lack of control over the situation (Alper et al., 2020; Swami et al., 2016).”
BackgroundEmotional Predictors of Populism in the Case of Turkey
Erişen, C. (2024) · American Behavioral Scientist · doi:10.1177/00027642241240349 · Cited by 14
“Whether considered as a psychological determinant (e.g. Alper et al., 2022), an important factor in parliamentary debates (e.g. Nefes, 2018), or in connection to COVID-19-related con-spiracy beliefs (e.g. Enders et al., 2021; Erisen, 2022), the conspiracy mindset is a reliable indicator of how and…”
Wang, Y., Thier, K., Ntiri, S. O., Quinn, S. C., Adebamowo, C., & Nan, X. (2023) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2023.2179711 · Cited by 12
“In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alper et al. (2020) found no association between participants’ beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and individuals’ preventive behavioral intentions.”
BackgroundAnalytic Thinking and Political Orientation in the Corona Crisis
Maglić, M., Pavlovic, T. M., & Franc, R. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631800 · Cited by 10
Belief in Science‐Related Conspiracy Theories
Littrell, S., Diekman, A. B., Seelig, M. I., Premaratne, K., Wuchty, S., Verdear, D., Klofstad, C., & Uscinski, J. E. (2025) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/josi.70004 · Cited by 14
Khalaf, M. A., & Shehata, A. M. K. (2023) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-023-01425-7 · Cited by 9
Ünal, Ö., Cesur‐Atintaş, M., Canıöz, E. K., Kaya, H., & Yağmurcu, Y. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01749-w · Cited by 10
“In addition, recent studies have shown that COVID-19 risk perception plays an important role in preventive health behavior (Alper et al., 2020; Marinthe et al., 2020).”
BackgroundIntuition, reason, and conspiracy beliefsPreprint
Binnendyk, J., & Pennycook, G. (2022) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/su3nq · Cited by 9
Bayrak, F., Doğruyol, B., Alper, S., & Yılmaz, O. (2023) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/jdm.2023.45 · Cited by 8
Alper, S., Toribio‐Flórez, D., Capraro, V., & Douglas, K. M. (2024) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/19485506241302878 · Cited by 9
“…the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (henceforth referred to as generic conspiracy beliefs ; Brotherton et al., 2013; translated into Turkish by Alper, Bayrak, Yilmaz, 2021), which is a 15-item scale (e.g., ‘‘Secret organizations communicate with extraterrestrials, but keep this fact from the…”
Zelič, Ž., Berič, M., & Grum, D. K. (2022) · Studia Psychologica · doi:10.31577/sp.2022.01.844 · Cited by 10
COVID-19 Related Stresses, Conspiracy Beliefs, Uncertainty, and Non-adherence to Safety Guidelines
Barahmand, U., Mohamadpour, S., & Ahmad, R. H. S. (2022) · International Journal of Psychological Research · doi:10.21500/20112084.5367 · Cited by 6
“The positive association between conspiratorial beliefs regarding COVID-19 and feelings of uncertainty does confirm a potential bidirectional relationship consistent with previous reports (Alper et al., 2020; Maftei & Holman, 2020).”
ResultLin, T., Heemskerk, A., Harris, E., & Ebner, N. C. (2022) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.12613 · Cited by 9
Validating a German Version of the Conspiracy Mentality Scale (CMS)
Stojanov, A., & Hannawa, A. F. (2022) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2022.2149408 · Cited by 8
“…believe in conspir-acy theories stems from the findings that belief in one con-spiracy theory is related to believes in other conspiracy theories (Alper et al., 2021; Freeman et al., 2022; Srol et al., 2021; Swami et al., 2010), even if they are contradictory (Luki (cid:4) c et al., 2019;…”
BackgroundPersonality and early susceptibility to COVID‐19 in the United Kingdom
Satoshi Kanazawa, A. (2021) · Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/casp.2578 · Cited by 7
Ozimek, P., Nettersheim, M., Rohmann, E., & Bierhoff, H. (2022) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs12110435 · Cited by 6
“Other studies suggest, in accordance with the viewpoint by Petty and Cacioppo [34], a positive relationship between conspiracytheoretical views and low cognitive reflection [57] and high intuition instead of analytical reasoning [3].”
ResultWenjuan, L., Zhaotong, Y., Yuhua, D., & Midi, Z. (2023) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2023.2241699 · Cited by 9
“The spread of fake news can have a negative impact on public health (Alper et al., 2021; Singh et al., 2020).”
BackgroundReflection predicts and leads to decreased conspiracy belief
Bayrak, F., Sümer, V., Doğruyol, B., Sarıbay, S. A., Alper, S., İşler, O., & Yılmaz, O. (2025) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106085 · Cited by 9
Populist Attitudes and Misinformation Challenging Trust: The Case of Turkey
Erişen, C., & Erişen, E. (2024) · International Journal of Public Opinion Research · doi:10.1093/ijpor/edae056 · Cited by 9
Irfan, M., Bhatti, O. K., & Öztürk, A. O. (2021) · Journal of economic and administrative sciences. · doi:10.1108/jeas-03-2021-0063 · Cited by 7
Prawira, B., Pratama, A. J., Bella, A., & Nuraini, S. (2021) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/13591053211037730 · Cited by 7
“Other studies have shown the correlation between belief in misinformation and conspiracy regarding COVID-19 and preventive behaviours to be weak, inconsistent, or indirect (Alper et al., 2020; Díaz and Cova, 2020; Hornik et al., 2021).”
The COVID-19 Infodemic: Misinformation About Health on Social Media in Istanbul
Tunçer, S., & Mehmet Sinan, T. A. M. (2022) · Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi · doi:10.17829/turcom.1050696 · Cited by 9
Zeng, Z., Ding, Y., Zhang, Y., & Guo, Y. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19095396 · Cited by 7
COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and vaccinations: A conceptual replication study in Turkey
Pivetti, M., Paleari, F. G., Ertan, I., Battista, S. D., & ULUKÖK, E. (2023) · Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology · doi:10.1177/18344909231170097 · Cited by 7
“In a predominantly Muslim country such as Turkey, religiosity, right-wing ideology, and a lower level of cognitive re fl ection were associated with a higher level of belief in COVID-related conspiracy theories (Alper et al., 2021).”
BackgroundResultNejat, P., Heirani-Tabas, A., & Nazarpour, M. M. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1201695 · Cited by 12
“, 2021), others found women (Erceg et al., 2020; Alper et al., 2021; Vranic et al., 2022) or men (Cassese et al.”
BackgroundNawaz, A., Soomro, S. A., Batool, S., Shaikh, H. R., & Aslam, A. (2022) · Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy · doi:10.1111/asap.12337 · Cited by 7
Youssef, D., Abboud, E., & Bleibel, L. (2022) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2020448/v1 · Cited by 7
Readiness for influenza and COVID-19 vaccination in Germany: a comparative analysis
Schulz, A. A., Abt, Y., von Oppen, L., & Wirtz, M. A. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1437942 · Cited by 6
“Across different countries, varying levels of trust in government, healthcare systems, and social influences were found to be determinants of vaccine acceptance (Abate et al., 2024; Alper et al., 2020; Shi et al., 2024; Huang et al., 2022; Leong et al., 2022; Rosen et al., 2021).”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Alper, S., Bayrak, F., & Yilmaz, O.
- Affiliations
- Yaşar University (TR)
- Başkent University (TR)
- Corresponding author
- Alper, Sinan
- Venue
- Current Psychology
- Published
- 2020-06-29
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 5708-5717
- ISSN
- 1046-1310 (ISSN-L)
- 1936-4733
- PMC
- PMC7324005
- OpenAlex
- W3037825161
- Cited by
- 192
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 7
- FWCI
- 47.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Current Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
- Keywords
- COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, preventive measures, COVID-19 pandemic, faith in intuition, uncertainty avoidance, impulsivity, religiosity, right-wing ideology, cognitive reflection, risk perception, individual differences, Turkey
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