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Do we need a strong captain to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? Social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader
INTRODUCTION: In times of great uncertainty and hardship, calls for a strong leader tend to arise. The present study delved into this issue by examining possible sociopsychological antecedents of the wish for a strong leader during the COVID-19 crisis. METHODS: We examined the role of social identif...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9945967/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36844345 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1100519 |
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author | Moscatelli, Silvia Graziani, Anna Rita Botindari, Lucia Ciaffoni, Stefano Menegatti, Michela |
author_facet | Moscatelli, Silvia Graziani, Anna Rita Botindari, Lucia Ciaffoni, Stefano Menegatti, Michela |
author_sort | Moscatelli, Silvia |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: In times of great uncertainty and hardship, calls for a strong leader tend to arise. The present study delved into this issue by examining possible sociopsychological antecedents of the wish for a strong leader during the COVID-19 crisis. METHODS: We examined the role of social identification, belief in conspiracy theories related to COVID-19, and trust in various relevant social actors in a sample of 350 Italian citizens. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling analyses showed that identification with Italians was related to a lower wish for a strong leader through the mediation of trust. Identification with Europeans had a direct and negative association with the wish for a strong leader. Finally, greater endorsement of conspiracy beliefs was related to a greater wish for a strong leader, directly and through diminished trust. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that belief in conspiracy theories might drive individuals to depart from democratic principles, whereas relying on meaningful social identities can effectively contrast possible authoritarian turns brought about by a global societal crisis, such as the coronavirus outbreak. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9945967 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-99459672023-02-23 Do we need a strong captain to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? Social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader Moscatelli, Silvia Graziani, Anna Rita Botindari, Lucia Ciaffoni, Stefano Menegatti, Michela Front Psychol Psychology INTRODUCTION: In times of great uncertainty and hardship, calls for a strong leader tend to arise. The present study delved into this issue by examining possible sociopsychological antecedents of the wish for a strong leader during the COVID-19 crisis. METHODS: We examined the role of social identification, belief in conspiracy theories related to COVID-19, and trust in various relevant social actors in a sample of 350 Italian citizens. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling analyses showed that identification with Italians was related to a lower wish for a strong leader through the mediation of trust. Identification with Europeans had a direct and negative association with the wish for a strong leader. Finally, greater endorsement of conspiracy beliefs was related to a greater wish for a strong leader, directly and through diminished trust. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that belief in conspiracy theories might drive individuals to depart from democratic principles, whereas relying on meaningful social identities can effectively contrast possible authoritarian turns brought about by a global societal crisis, such as the coronavirus outbreak. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-02-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9945967/ /pubmed/36844345 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1100519 Text en Copyright © 2023 Moscatelli, Graziani, Botindari, Ciaffoni and Menegatti. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Moscatelli, Silvia Graziani, Anna Rita Botindari, Lucia Ciaffoni, Stefano Menegatti, Michela Do we need a strong captain to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? Social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader |
title | Do we need a strong captain to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? Social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader |
title_full | Do we need a strong captain to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? Social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader |
title_fullStr | Do we need a strong captain to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? Social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader |
title_full_unstemmed | Do we need a strong captain to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? Social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader |
title_short | Do we need a strong captain to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? Social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader |
title_sort | do we need a strong captain to navigate the covid-19 pandemic? social identification, conspiracy theory beliefs, and the wish for a strong leader |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9945967/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36844345 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1100519 |
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