The social consequences of conspiracism: exposure to conspiracy theories decreases intentions to engage in politics and to reduce one’s carbon footprint
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The current studies explored the social consequences of exposure to conspiracy theories. In Study 1, participants were exposed to a range of conspiracy theories concerning government involvement in significant events such as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Results revealed that exposure to information supporting conspiracy theories reduced participants' intentions to engage in politics, relative to participants who were given information refuting conspiracy theories. This effect was mediated by feelings of political powerlessness. In Study 2, participants were exposed to conspiracy theories concerning the issue of climate change. Results revealed that exposure to information supporting the conspiracy theories reduced participants' intentions to reduce their carbon footprint, relative to participants who were given refuting information, or those in a control condition. This effect was mediated by powerlessness with respect to climate change, uncertainty, and disillusionment. Exposure to climate change conspiracy theories also influenced political intentions, an effect mediated by political powerlessness. The current findings suggest that conspiracy theories may have potentially significant social consequences, and highlight the need for further research on the social psychology of conspiracism.
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Conspiracy theory beliefs demotivate people to engage in normal, democratic practices like voting.
“demotivate people to engage in normal, democratic practices [see 14] like voting [15, but see 16].”
From The dark side of social movements: social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories (2020) · cites this paper as [15]
Powerlessness is associated with beliefs in conspiracy theories.
“Research has demonstrated that powerlessness is associated with beliefs in conspiracy theories [22], [31]”
From The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions (2014) · cites this paper as [22]
Feelings of political powerlessness mediate the relationship between exposure to conspiracy theories and voting intentions.
“and also that feelings of political powerlessness mediate the relationship between exposure to conspiracy theories and voting intentions [22].”
From The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions (2014) · cites this paper as [22]
Exposure to conspiracy theories has been found to have detrimental effects in other domains, such as reducing pro-environmental intentions and willingness to engage in politics.
“Also, exposure to conspiracy theories has been found to have detrimental effects in other domains, such as reducing pro-environmental intentions and willingness to engage in politics [21], [22].”
From The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions (2014) · cites this paper as [22]
Exposure to conspiracy theories increases political disillusionment.
“Previous research has demonstrated that exposure to conspiracy theories increases political disillusionment [22]”
From The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions (2014) · cites this paper as [22]
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Mistrust and misinformation: A two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories
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Examining the monological nature of conspiracy theories
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“Prominent examples of contemporary conspiracy beliefs pertain to issues such as climate change (Jolley & Douglas, 2014), the financial crisis and the common belief about the corrupt and nocuous nature of decision-makers, among others.”
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The entertainment value of conspiracy theories
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Online communication as a window to conspiracist worldviews
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Self-citationThe Conspiracy Mentality Scale
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Individual, intergroup and nation-level influences on belief in conspiracy theories
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- Authors
- Jolley, D., & Douglas, K. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Kent (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Jolley, Daniel
- Douglas, Karen M.
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-01-04
- Volume
- 105
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 35-56
- ISSN
- 0007-1269 (ISSN-L)
- 2044-8295
- OpenAlex
- W1995170713
- Cited by
- 685
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 47 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 106 · 2021: 82 · 2020: 71 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 62 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 46.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- British Journal of Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Northumbria Research Link (Northumbria University) (acceptedVersion)
- Staffordshire Online Repository (Staffordshire University) (acceptedVersion)
- Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) (acceptedVersion)
- Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) (submittedVersion)
- Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Keywords
- conspiracy beliefs, conspiracy theories, political participation, political impotence, uncertainty, political disillusionment
- MeSH terms
- Analysis of Variance, Female, Government, United Kingdom, Homicide, Humans, Deception, Male, Models, Psychological, Persuasive Communication, Politics, Power, Psychological, Psychology, Social, Public Opinion, Surveys and Questionnaires, Students, Intention, Uncertainty, Trust, Young Adult, Climate Change, Carbon Footprint
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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