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A Bioweapon or a Hoax? The Link Between Distinct Conspiracy Beliefs About the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak and Pandemic Behavior
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Abstract
During the coronavirus disease pandemic rising in 2020, governments and nongovernmental organizations across the globe have taken great efforts to curb the infection rate by promoting or legally prescribing behavior that can reduce the spread of the virus. At the same time, this pandemic has given rise to speculations and conspiracy theories. Conspiracy worldviews have been connected to refusal to trust science, the biomedical model of disease, and legal means of political engagement in previous research. In three studies from the United States ( N = 220; N = 288) and the UK ( N = 298), we went beyond this focus on a general conspiracy worldview and tested the idea that different forms of conspiracy beliefs despite being positively correlated have distinct behavioral implications. Whereas conspiracy beliefs describing the pandemic as a hoax were more strongly associated with reduced containment-related behavior, conspiracy beliefs about sinister forces purposefully creating the virus related to an increase in self-centered prepping behavior.
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“the belief in conspiracies diminishes the inclination towards legitimate political engagement while fostering a greater tolerance for illegitimate and potentially violent political actions (Imhoff et al., 2020).”
From The Seed of Doubt: Examining the Role of Alternative Social and News Media for the Birth of a Conspiracy Theory (2024) · cites this paper as Imhoff et al., 2020
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Cites
Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response
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Redefine statistical significance
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“When people are not able to gain control in the real world, they compensate for this lack by perceiving patterns—even if they are an illusion (e.g., Douglas et al., 2017).”
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“…robust finding that content-wise even completely unrelated conspiracy beliefs are so highly intercorrelated that they typically load on one factor (Bruder et al., 2013; Swami et al., 2011) and are thus often understood as specific expressions of a generalized mindset or political attitude (Imhoff…”
Self-citationPROMAX: A QUICK METHOD FOR ROTATION TO OBLIQUE SIMPLE STRUCTURE
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“Conspiracy mentality, however, a generalized belief that powerful forces operate in secret to rule the world (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014), has been connected to distrust in both science in general (as it is perceived as high power; Imhoff et al., 2018) and the biomedical system more specifically (for…”
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“This goes as far as logically incompatible conspiracy theories correlating positively (Wood et al., 2012).”
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“…content-wise even completely unrelated conspiracy beliefs are so highly intercorrelated that they typically load on one factor (Bruder et al., 2013; Swami et al., 2011) and are thus often understood as specific expressions of a generalized mindset or political attitude (Imhoff & Lamberty, 2018).”
BackgroundSelf-citationToo special to be duped: need for uniqueness motivates conspiracy beliefs
Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. K. (2017) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2265 · Cited by 260 · cited 1×
“This is relevant, as endorsement of conspiracy beliefs has been associated with an increased need for uniqueness in both correlational and experimental studies (Imhoff & Lamberty, 2017; Lantian et al., 2017).”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
Roozenbeek, J., Schneider, C. R., Dryhurst, S., Kerr, J., Freeman, A. L. J., Recchia, G., van der Bles, A. M., & van der Linden, S. (2020) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.201199 · Cited by 1,447
Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19
van der Linden, S., Roozenbeek, J., & Compton, J. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566790 · Cited by 632
Misinformation: susceptibility, spread, and interventions to immunize the public
van der Linden, S. (2022) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-022-01713-6 · Cited by 570
Basol, M., Roozenbeek, J., Berriche, M., Uenal, F., McClanahan, W. P., & Linden, S. V. D. (2021) · Big Data & Society · doi:10.1177/20539517211013868 · Cited by 271
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Are conspiracy theories harmless?
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“Imhoff and Lamberty (2020) found that “hoax” conspiracy theories in particular predicted refusal of preventive behaviors, but conspiracy beliefs that the virus is a bioweaponwere associatedwithmore self-centered prepping behavior.”
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“Belief in conspiracy theories is linked to a reduced inclination towards behaviors that bene fi t the collective good, such as engaging in climate-friendly practices (Jolley & Douglas, 2014) or adhering to pandemic-control measures (Imhoff & Lamberty, 2020).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P.
- Affiliations
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Imhoff, Roland
- Venue
- Social Psychological and Personality Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-07-06
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1110-1118
- ISSN
- 1948-5506 (ISSN-L)
- 1948-5514
- PMC
- PMC7342934
- OpenAlex
- W3040688442
- Cited by
- 722
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 41 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 82 · 2023: 142 · 2022: 177 · 2021: 156 · 2020: 57
- FWCI
- 147.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2020-10-14)
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Social Psychological and Personality Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- conspiracy beliefs, COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic behavior, hoaxes, hoarding, public trust in science, biomedical model, political participation
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