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Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors

Paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories both involve suspiciousness about the intentions of others but have rarely been studied together. In three studies, one with a mainly student sample (N = 496) and two with more representative UK population samples (N = 1,519, N = 638) we compared single and...

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Autores principales: Alsuhibani, Azzam, Shevlin, Mark, Freeman, Daniel, Sheaves, Bryony, Bentall, Richard P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8989304/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35389988
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259053
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author Alsuhibani, Azzam
Shevlin, Mark
Freeman, Daniel
Sheaves, Bryony
Bentall, Richard P.
author_facet Alsuhibani, Azzam
Shevlin, Mark
Freeman, Daniel
Sheaves, Bryony
Bentall, Richard P.
author_sort Alsuhibani, Azzam
collection PubMed
description Paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories both involve suspiciousness about the intentions of others but have rarely been studied together. In three studies, one with a mainly student sample (N = 496) and two with more representative UK population samples (N = 1,519, N = 638) we compared single and two-factor models of paranoia and conspiracy theories as well as associations between both belief systems and other psychological constructs. A model with two correlated factors was the best fit in all studies. Both belief systems were associated with poor locus of control (belief in powerful others and chance) and loneliness. Paranoid beliefs were specifically associated with negative self-esteem and, in two studies, insecure attachment; conspiracy theories were associated with positive self-esteem in the two larger studies and narcissistic personality traits in the final study. Conspiracist thinking but not paranoia was associated with poor performance on the Cognitive Reflection Task (poor analytical thinking). The findings suggest that paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories are distinct but correlated belief systems with both common and specific psychological components.
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spelling pubmed-89893042022-04-08 Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors Alsuhibani, Azzam Shevlin, Mark Freeman, Daniel Sheaves, Bryony Bentall, Richard P. PLoS One Research Article Paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories both involve suspiciousness about the intentions of others but have rarely been studied together. In three studies, one with a mainly student sample (N = 496) and two with more representative UK population samples (N = 1,519, N = 638) we compared single and two-factor models of paranoia and conspiracy theories as well as associations between both belief systems and other psychological constructs. A model with two correlated factors was the best fit in all studies. Both belief systems were associated with poor locus of control (belief in powerful others and chance) and loneliness. Paranoid beliefs were specifically associated with negative self-esteem and, in two studies, insecure attachment; conspiracy theories were associated with positive self-esteem in the two larger studies and narcissistic personality traits in the final study. Conspiracist thinking but not paranoia was associated with poor performance on the Cognitive Reflection Task (poor analytical thinking). The findings suggest that paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories are distinct but correlated belief systems with both common and specific psychological components. Public Library of Science 2022-04-07 /pmc/articles/PMC8989304/ /pubmed/35389988 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259053 Text en © 2022 Alsuhibani et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Alsuhibani, Azzam
Shevlin, Mark
Freeman, Daniel
Sheaves, Bryony
Bentall, Richard P.
Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors
title Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors
title_full Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors
title_fullStr Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors
title_full_unstemmed Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors
title_short Why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: Conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors
title_sort why conspiracy theorists are not always paranoid: conspiracy theories and paranoia form separate factors with distinct psychological predictors
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8989304/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35389988
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259053
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