Looking under the tinfoil hat: Clarifying the personological and psychopathological correlates of conspiracy beliefs

• Published in: Journal of personality 2021-05, Vol.89 (3), p.422-436
• Main Authors: Bowes, Shauna M., Costello, Thomas H., Ma, Winkie, Lilienfeld, Scott O.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agreeableness; Antisocial personality disorder; Beliefs; Conscientiousness; Conspiracy; conspiracy beliefs; conspiratorial ideation; Disinhibition; Ideation; Impulsivity; Internalization; internalizing; Narcissism; Negative emotions; personality; Personality disorders; Prone; Psychological distress; Psychopathology
• ISSN: 0022-3506; 1467-6494
• DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12588

Objective We sought to replicate and extend provisional research on the personological correlates of conspiracy beliefs by examining their associations with abnormal‐ and normal‐range personality domain‐level traits and, for the first time, lower‐order personality facets; we also examined internalizing symptoms. Method The study comprised four samples of community and student participants (Ntotal = 1,927), and examined the cross‐sectional relations between self‐reported conspiratorial ideation and measures of (a) the six‐factor model of general personality, (b) intellectual humility (IH), (c) traits relevant to certain personality disorder features (narcissism, psychopathy, disinhibition), and (d) internalizing symptoms (depression, anxiety, anger). Results Agreeableness and conscientiousness were significant, albeit modest, negative correlates of conspiracy beliefs, although other general personality dimensions tended to manifest negligible associations. Significant associations between lower‐order personality facets and conspiracy beliefs, not evident at the domain level, emerged. Indices of IH were significant negative correlates. Conspiracy beliefs were also associated with a range of personality disorder features and internalizing symptoms. Conclusions Our results suggest that the nonclinical individual prone to conspiratorial ideation is somewhat likely to display a complex mixture of traits including distress, immodesty, impulsivity, and negative affect. Future research should investigate potential multiplicative relations among personological variables in predicting conspiracy beliefs.