The Impact of Belief in Conspiracy Theories around the World
Abstract
A conspiracy mindset is deemed to develop from stressful events, and concomitant to the occurrence of one mindset, other theories ensure from the non-existent patterns. Moreover, the feeling of understanding and control of conspiracies has been shown to stimulate stress in people. In the culmination of a stressful event, including stresses associated with political election, election results, and power, people seek conspiracy theoretical explanations to enumerate control or order in the society. Based on these findings and the understanding of conspiracy theory belief in management of stress, this study seeks to elucidate how the belief in conspiracy theories impact on the quality of thinking in decision making and stress management. Using quantitative methods, deductive approaches were used by the researcher in the collection of raw data and its analysis. While using a survey strategy to study the general population on their belief in conspiracies and their impacts, data was collected from randomly selected participants using semi-structured questionnaires. On applying OLS regression and Pearson product-moment correlation models, it was established that different aspects of stress and stressors influence the belief in conspiracies uniquely. Conversely, conspiracy beliefs may be amplified by the level of stress in an individual, with statistical significance on how an individual feels regarding how life events are moving. Specifically, the influence of conspiracy theories elicited a 22.6% impact on how people express and manage stress and their decision making power. Moreover, the statistical evidence presented in the analysis showed a 0.062 correlation coefficient, which implied that life-stresses increased the propensity to belief in conspiracy theories. A personal belief in conspiracies aggravated the stress level in an individual.
Keywords: conspiracy, conspiracy theories, stress, critical thinking, and problem solving.
Table of Contents
Abstract 2
List of Tables 5
List of Figures 6
Introduction 7
Problem Statement 10
Research Aim 11
Research Objectives 11
Research Hypothesis 11
Research Significance 11
Organization of Chapters 12
Literature Review 13
Theoretical Review 13
Empirical Review 16
Basic Principles in Conspiracy Theories 18
Motivated Reasoning and Conspiracy Theories 21
Communication of Conspiracy Theories 22
Conspiracy Theory and Crime 23
Gap in Literature 24
Summary 25
Research Methodology 26
Research Design 26
Sampling Procedure 28
Data Collection 30
Data Analysis 31
Ethical Considerations 31
Summary 32
Results 33
Demographic Analysis 33
Relational Analysis 37
Regression Analysis 44
Correlation Analysis 45
Discussion 47
Conclusion 49
Limitations 51
Recommendations 51
References 53
Appendix 61
Appendix A: Participant Invitation Letter 61
Appendix B: Ethics Form 63
List of Tables
Table 1: Age of Participants (Source: Author) 34
Table 2: Nationality of participants (Source: Author) 36
Table 3: Perception on government-aided killings (Source: Author) 37
Table 4: belief in small unknown groups controlling world politics and major decisions (Source: Author) 38
Table 5: belief in technologies in use at different capacities (Source: Author) 41
Table 6: Critical thinking and problem solving scores (Source: Author) 43
Table 7: Regression ANOVA summary (Source: Author) 44
Table 8: Correlation between stress level and belief in conspiracies (Source: Author) 45
List of Figures
Figure 1: Gender characteristics of the participants (Source: Author) 35
Figure 2: Belief in communication between secret organization and extraterrestrial beings (Source: Author) 39
Introduction
Early scholars of the belief in conspiracy theories based their evidences on correlational studies in cross-sectional designs (Chayinska & Minescu, 2018; Jolley & Douglas, 2014), while others explored postulates of conspiracy as a function of social-political paradigm as it controls political and economic powers (Marchlewska, Cichocka, & Kossowska, 2018). In the contemporary world of social and political discourse, there are numerous conspiracy theories yet there is a paucity of literature defining their genesis or the implications attached in the course of their spread over the years. Across history, conspiracy theirs have been associated to political revolutions and power change or dominion, prejudice and crime (Douglas & Sutton, 2015; Van Prooijen, Krouwel & Pollet, 2015). Perpetrations of global terrorist attacks are accentuated by individuals who are particular supporters of conspiracies.
According to Van Prooijen et al. (2015), the concept of conspiracy has been used to define secret plots against or for a particular entity by powerful actors. Essentially, conspiracies have been used to appropriate economic or political power, withhold critical secrets, infringe human rights, violate definite agreements, or change particular private or public institutions. Technically, conspiracies extrapolate beyond the criminal enterprise. For instance, according to Dai and Handley-Schachler (2015), a wide range of conspiracy theories circulating among citizens are false, some become true, as is the case with incidents of corporate corruption and Watergate scandal that happed as a result of inherent failure in the secret execution of political plans. Conspiracy theories span from inherently improbable light of logic to scientific information including the chemtrail conspiracy theories and to theoretical possibilities associated with continuous infringement of privacy laws by the secret service agencies.
Levy (2007) argued that the exposure or failure of conspiracies has been branded as having actually transpired. In actuality, unconventional causes of particular social, political or economic occurrences and events are elucidated through conspiracy theories when power actors claim their secret plot (Byford, 2011). Conspiracy theories, not only target governments and government agencies, but may also be powerfully and malevolently directed to any social group. For instance, the occurrence of the 9/11 attach has been linked to the financial industry, the Bush and Saudi government administrations, and the Jews. Climate change as a conspiracy theory has been linked to scientists, United Nations, communists, the oil industry, and different governments. As Blaskiewicz (2013) highlighted, conspiracy theories have been developed to explain the genesis of new infectious agents with readily available targeting drugs against them, linking big pharmaceutical corporations to profiting on diseases. Although conspiracy defines the causal chain and consequential effect of events, conspiracy theory is a true or falsified assertion of conspiracy (McKenzie-McHarg, 2018).
Key insights on the belief in conspiracies as associated with distinct differences and the increased sensitivity to social constructs. It has been established that ideological motivations impact on conspiracy beliefs on political power with respect to the results of an election. For instance, the Democrats intuit the conspiracy theory that the government (with a Republican president) manipulated the election results, and vice versa (Uscinski & Parent, 2014). Additionally, people around the globe belief in conspiracies that present impactful societal influences including floods, fire, earthquakes wars, crime and violence, as well as prompt collective change (Van Prooijen & Douglas, 2017). Collective social constructs that define the feelings of citizens on vulnerability increase the adhesion to belief in conspiracy theories as elicited powerlessness and poor management of stress (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014). Moreover, Davis, Wetherell, and Henry (2018) established that the beliefs in conspiracy theories are markedly high in societies harboring groups of marginalized minority.
Anxiety and psychological stress have been considered by Swami, Furnham, Smyth, Weis, Lay and Clow (2016) as precursors to the belief in conspiracy theories. Examining the association between anxiety, stress, and beliefs in conspiracies, it was established that higher perceived stress and experiences with greater traumatic life occurrences exhibited a higher predilection to belief in conspiracy. People with strong belief in conspiracies are more predisposed to have experienced more stressing life situations, and with a higher level of stress in general living. According to Franks, Bangerter and Bauer (2013), young people have been depicted to be more susceptible to believing in conspiracies. According to Swami et al. (2016), the belief in conspiracies is dependent on poor analytical thinking considering that stress is an inhibitor of analytical tendencies. Essentially, a person who is experiencing significant levels of stress in life conforms to specific ways of thinking, which may include establishment of patterns in life that are not in existent.
A conspiracy mindset is deemed to develop from stressful events, and concomitant to the occurrence of one mindset, other theories ensure from the non-existent patterns (Darwin, Neave, & Holmes, 2011). Moreover, the feeling of understanding and control of conspiracy theories can equally stimulate stress in people. As Swami et al. (2014) posited, in the culmination of a stressful event, including stresses associated with political election, election results, and power, people seek conspiracy theoretical explanations to enumerate control or order in the society. Based on these findings and the understanding of conspiracy theory belief in management of stress, an array of questions emerge. First, how does a conspiracy theory emerge, develop and propagate in the society? Second, how does a communicated conspiracy theory influence political, social and/or economic decisions? And what are the potential implications of the beliefs in conspiracy theories in influencing stress management, particularly in the face of political, technological and economic dynamics? The current study was enthused by the development of answers to these questions, with the study purposing to establish how conspiracy theories impact on the global community.
Problem Statement
Scholarly evidence to enumerate conspiracy theories has increased significantly in the recent past (Douglas et al., 2019). Security agencies, such as the US FBI, have argued that conspiracy theories stimulate the occurrence of domestic terrorism with the rise of criminal and/or violent occurrences. As Harambam and Aupers (2015) established, the beliefs in conspiracy theories are propagated in social media and political platforms have been shown to outlay a bigger threat entailing conspiracy-motivated extremism, which is directly linked to negative impacts on decision-making. The understanding of conspiracy theory belief in management of stress motivated the need to explore perspectives on how a conspiracy theory emerge, develop and propagate in the society. Second, there is need to enumerate how a communicated conspiracy theory influences political, social and/or economic decisions. Lastly, literature on the potential implications of the beliefs in conspiracy theories in influencing stress management, particularly in the face of political, technological and economic dynamics is largely limited. The current study was stimulated by the need for development of perspectives addressing the above intuitions, with propositions establishing how conspiracy theories impact on the global community.
Research Aim
The current study purposes to establish the impacts of the belief in conspiracy theories around the world.
Research Objectives
In order to achieve the study goal, the study strives to meet the below objectives.
i. To determine how the belief in conspiracy theories impacts on political and economic power.
ii. To determine how the belief in conspiracy theories impacts on technology and crime.
iii. To determine how the belief in conspiracy theories impacts on the quality of thinking in decision making and stress management .
Research Hypothesis
This study is based on null hypotheses, including:
H01. There is no perceived interaction or relation between the belief in conspiracy theories and the level of power politics and/or economy globally.
H02. There is no perceived interaction or relation between the belief in conspiracy theories and technology use and/or crime level globally.
H03. There is no perceived interaction or relation between the belief in conspiracy theories and stress level in an individual.
Research Significance
The findings of this study are pertinent to better understanding of the social-economic and political paradigms relating to power, crime, and economic decay. Importantly, there are numerous conspiracies in the current global social-economic and political discourse yet research to elucidate their causes, course and implications is on its development stage. Globally, conspiracy theories have been associated with political revolutions, criminal prejudices, annihilation and witch hunts. Diverse crime perpetrators and terrorists have been linked to the support of particular conspiracy theories. Moreover, conspiracy theory has been linked to the advances and use of medicine and technology. The findings of this study on conspiracy theories will build an understanding on the implications of beliefs to guide on rejection or approval of scientific, technological and political consensuses, particularly in view of decision making and management of stress. Additionally, the findings will constitute an important piece of evidence on the continuing debate on how beliefs in conspiracy theory impact on the global society.
Organization of Chapters
In order to enumerate the impacts of belief in conspiracy theories around the world, this study was structured into five chapters. Background literature is provided constituting the first chapter enumerating the definitions of major concepts, particularly conspiracy, and conspiracy theirs, as well as their association with stress. The aim and objectives guiding the development of the study, including the rationale of the study are further explored. A review of previous literature constituted the second chapter highlighting on the theoretical review and empirical review of conspiracy theories and their impacts in the contemporary society. The description of methods used in data collection and its analysis constituted the third chapter. In this chapter, the research design is described. Moreover, an enumeration of participants, data collection tools and collection and analysis ensued. In the fourth chapter, a description of study findings is provided. A discussion of the findings constituted the fifth chapter. In addition, conclusions and recommendations, including those reflecting further research, are provided thereafter.
Literature Review
Conspiracy theories play a key role in many avenues in the world, most notably in the political arena. The extension of the application of conspiracy theories in criminal activities is the most recent strategy. According to Kim and Cao (2016), conspiracy theories escalate terrorist acts, with evidence positing that violent actions by terrorists emanate from well-orchestrated conspiracy theories to spur the attacks. Similarly Douglas, Sutton, Jolley and Wood (2015) concurred by asserting that terrorist attacks in most instances result from retaliatory strategies stirred by some conspiracy theories created by the attackers. Bartlett and Miller (2010) argue that there exists no clear distinction between well-organized conspiracy paradigms and a common explanation of proceedings by society in supporting the oppression of the weak people. Additionally, Mashuri and Zaduqisti (2014) posit that some of the conspiracy archetypes hold some truth in them anchored in factual evidence followed by extreme embellishment to fit the targeted intention making it hard to realize the fabrications. The high degree of use of conspiracy paradigms by extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda explains the pivotal role played by the theories in stimulating criminal activities. The application of conspiracy theories is predominant in most radical spectrum despite the radical groups holding different beliefs, indicating how extremists activities thrives by using conspiracy paradigms (Bartlett & Miller, 2010).
Theoretical Review
Conspiracy theory. Explanation of events takes different approaches, the slant used in explaining the event dependents on the intended outcome of the explanation. The explanation of an event in a manner that triggers secret criminal arrangements by a group of people in reaction to the falsified explanation takes constitutes the highest frequency of means of criminal activities (West & Sanders, 2003). Douglas, Sutton and Cichocka (2017) argue that conspiracy theories offer details that fit into the beliefs of the targeted groups, preserving those beliefs by the people stirring doubt, hatred and ambiguities for retaliatory actions in an environment that increases criminal and extremist activities. Unsubstantiated conspiracy assertions at times influences people into actions that affect the people negatively and the society at large. In addition, Douglas et al. (2019) argue that conspiracy paradigms are copious in the present world; linking the theories to extremist activities, prejudice and revolutions persistent in the rejection of vaccinations. Similarly, Douglas, Sutton and Cichocka (2017) posit that it is paramount for every human being to feel secure in their surroundings and maintain control over the area as an individual or group, an ecosystem if broken stimulates formation and supporting of conspiracy paradigms for gratification. According to a report by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (2019), emergence of online platform speeds up conspiracy theory spread, the report suggesting that the use of emails to spread conspiracies by senior government officials makes the activity easy and could be a source of domestic terrorism threat in the country in the near future. Van Prooijen and Van Vugt (2018) contend that globally conspiracy believe in conspiracy paradigms is on the rise to an extent of emerging as a culturally common portent. Oliver Wood (2014) affirms Van Prooijen and Van Vugt (2018) suggestions by elucidating that over 37% of the United States population believe in the conspiracy that a section of United States’ administration is thwarting efforts to get natural cure for cancer due to interference by medical companies, an indicator of the level of acceptance of conspiracy paradigms globally.
Social cognitive theory. Internal and exterior social influences play part in shaping conspiracy theories. Leman and Cinnirella (2013) argue that the social environment that an individual grows up in coupled with the acquired behaviour from the environment emanating from experiences blends conspiracy paradigms out of the cavalries, anticipations and beliefs. In a study to assess the endorsement of conspiracy theory by individual willingness, Douglas and Sutton (2011) affirms the assertions by articulating that individual’s disposition of some behaviours triggered by past experiences evoke the willingness to abide by the created conspiracy paradigms depending on the past consequences of the individuals to have followed the same behaviours. On the contrary, Swami et al. (2014) argue that change in environment does not automatically incline an individual towards supporting conspiracy theories, associating conspiracy paradigms to individuals’ social life, political alignment, extremism and self-confidence. Franks, Bangerter and Bauer (2013) posit that holding of secrets as behaviour stems from past experiences stimulating radicalism an avenue explored by extremists in spreading conspiracy paradigms for execution of terrorist attacks. Equally, Jolley and Douglas (2014) concur with assertions of Bangerter and Bauer (2013) by positing that keeping of secrets accelerates the potential of development of stress in individuals, a problem resulting from a long-term behaviour of holding secrets a key character of conspiracy theories creators. From the tenets of this theory it is discovered that people from regions where belief in conspiracy his highly valued and embraced tend to develop uphold conspiracy beliefs as opposed to those exposed to conspiracy believe through assimilation or from learning about them. As such, the theory helps the researcher in understanding factors which influence how conspiracy beliefs are acquired and the group of people prone to becoming victims of conspiracy theories and believes.
Social ecological model. Social interactions, behavioural changes and adoption of ideologies models arise from the stages of development of an individual affected by the different factors of the social ecological model. The interaction among an individual, relationship, community and society influences the formation and adoption of conspiracy theories. Boonstra (2016) argues that an individual’s social life prejudiced by the environment of living and the person’s social circle determines the behaviour of the person including inclination to ideologies. Similarly, in a study to examine beliefs in conspiracy theories Swami and Coles (2010) agree with Boonstra (2016) sentiments by espousing that the residential surrounding of a person coupled with the social life as determined by the cultural beliefs and friends influence the adoption of the conspiracy theories out of the interaction of the social ecological factors. This theory helps the researcher to identify the relationship between social interactions, person’s stage of development and influence of conspiracy theories among members of the society. Conversely, the tenets of this theory presuppose that the behaviour of and individual such as the ability to make right and firm decision as well as managing stress is influenced by one’s social interaction during certain stages of development in life as opposed to influences from conspiracy theories.
Empirical Review
Since every individual in a given country has the desire to positively associate with the social strata they belong to both politically and in the religion, any feeling of the devaluation of such individuals makes them feel undermined and insecure resulting in the issue of conspiracy (Uscinski & Parent, 2014). A study conducted by Cichocka, (2016) enumerated that people from Western countries have tended to victimize Muslim religion based on conspiracies, which holds that Western intellectual services prompted violence in Indonesia. Bilewicz, Winiewski, Kofta, and Wojcik (2013) established similar findings in Polish in a study among the Jews by indicating the concept of conspiracy theories was founded on the self-justifying nature of identifying and maintaining a social group.
Conspiracy theories. Theories of conspiracy are common in both traditional and modern world with a certain group of individuals in the society developing conviction of working together in agreement with an aim of gaining malevolent goal (Jolley, Douglas & Sutton, 2018). Conspiracy theories are viewed to be embedded in evolutionary psychology. In this regard, scholars globally have made their effort to develop knowledge meant to institute insight into conspiracy theories. Grimes (2016) in a survey among residents of New Jersey on the basis of ten conspiracy theories indicated varied beliefs on conspiracy with majority of the residents showing conspiracy believes with few of the study participants showing no belief. Contrary to the findings by Grimes (2016), a study by Jolley, Douglas and Sutton (2018) showed that the theories expressing conspiracy ideologies are convergent among most of the people since their ideologies support each other. Bruder et al. (2013) espouse that conspiracies are aimed at making attempt to explain the key causes of varied influential political, religious or social events and the reasons behind the claims which are secrets to the acting groups. While conspiracy theories offer broad view of people believes internally and how these beliefs are maintained during the events of doubt, studies indicate conspiracy theories are stronger in the situations of uncertainty especially in the circumstances where people view the pattern of belief in randomness (Van Prooijen, Douglas, & de Inocencio, 2018). Van Prooijen et al. (2015) hold that beliefs in conspiracies are not only limited to cultures of western indicating in Eastern Europe and other parts of the globe are highly influenced by these beliefs.
According to Uscinski and Parent (2014), the world of conspiracy theories tends to motivate people to develop a feeling of safety in a deceived manner where risky and dishonest people are identified and the problems they created is minimized or solved completely. Grzesiak-Feldman (2013) proved this proposition of motivation posed by Uscinski and Parent (2014) revealing the majority of people have high chances of turning to theories of conspiracy when they are powerless and anxious situations. On the contrary, it is indicate that conspiracy theories are heavily connected to lack of socio-political mechanism and lack of psychological encouragement (Bruder et al., 2013). Additionally, van Prooijen and Acker (2015) confirmed that the strength of conspiracy theories and believes are heightened by inferiority feeling of inability to take control of political and social outcomes as well as when their sense of control is self-confessed.
Basic Principles in Conspiracy Theories
Fabricated or exaggerated information in most cases forms the basis for the formation of conspiracy ideas while in other limited instances the conspiracy paradigms are anchored by factual information. However, in all instances, conspiracy theories elicit consequences associated with high beliefs. The healthcare sector predominantly suffers from the effects due to the dire consequences associated with conspiracy paradigms against vaccination. Van Prooijen and Van Vugt (2018) argue that over 30% of United States residents believe that senior government officials conspire with medicine production companies to stop the development of traditional medicine to cure different ailments. Equally, Briones, Nan, Madden, and Waks (2012) claim that the application of HPV vaccine is regarded by some sections of the world especially sub-Saharan Africa to cause infertility in ladies leaving many people exposed to cancer viruses. Consequently, people face the outcomes of adopting the conspiracy theories against vaccines, with cancer enrooting in communities that oppose the vaccines causing pandemics. In addition Jang, Mckeever, Mckeever and Kim (2019) assert that in the wake of anti-measles vaccine conspiracy theory in the US, diagnosis reports reveal the highest cases of measles in the US since the late 1980s leaving many exposed to the negative effects of measles as a result of refusal to take the vaccine. In other instances, conspiracy theories lead to the perception that politicians target specific groups for discrimination, a factor that contributes to divisions within a country depicted by reduced voting participants during elections (Coady, 2019). In support of Coady’s (2019) sentiment, Van Prooijen, Krouwel and Pollet (2015) argue that politically stimulated clashes resulting from conspiracy theories leave a country’s economy broken as well as internal differences even some years past the conspiracy paradigms.
The application of conspiracy theories cuts across all the parts of the world during all times. Van Prooijen and Van Vugt (2018) contend that beliefs manifest themselves across all cultural divides implying high vulnerability of people in the world, the propensity of people to believe that some other groups are establishing conspiracy paradigms against them becoming part of normal life all over the world. Equally, Jolley and Douglas (2014) affirm the sentiments by positing that conspiracy paradigms appease people all over the world with political inclinations accelerating the rate at which most people resonate with the theories. On the centrally Boonstra (2016) argue that the environment in which an individual grows in determines the level of confidence the person holds towards the conspiracy theories, explaining that not all people believe in the conspiracy theories but only those that grow up in surroundings that hold the beliefs in high regards. Buss (2009) supports the assertions by Boonstra (2016) by articulating that although most human beings believe in conspiracy theories it is not to a similar extent due to different psychological and environmental susceptibilities. Walker (2013) contends that the belief in the conspiracy paradigms has been in existence since ancient times with the advancement in technology stimulating more believe in the conspiracy theories due to the speed at which the theories spread.
Swami et al. (2014) contend that conspiracies emanate from innate thinking rather than analytical thinking. Equally, Douglas et al. (2016) argued that conspiracy theories emanate from intuitive thinking evidenced by a high level of belief in conspiracy paradigms by less learned people as opposed to elites. Jang et al. (2019) disagree with the assertions by stating that the common belief in conspiracy theories requires no substantial evidence from the believer to settle for the paradigm with the beliefs associated with emotional attachments of the person rather than actual evidence supporting the paradigm. Similarly, Douglas et al. (2015) argue that even openly absurd conspiracy theories gain sustenance through elaborate arguments positing that the conspiracy paradigms rely on systematic thinking process while on the contrary the theories are anchored in emotional attachments. As such, the conspiracy beliefs are more inclined towards emotional and intuitive systems of an individual. The argument for emotional attachments in accelerating the believe in conspiracy theories is supported by articulations of Douglas et al. (2017) who posit that the conspiracy paradigms increase impetus in instances of anxiety which is an emotional outcome. The link to the emotional attachments comes in the wake of perceived and identified patterns within the stimuli coupled with the association of the stimuli to a deliberate contributory agent (Van Prooijen et al., 2018).
According to Van Prooijen et al. (2018), conspiracy theories attached to social groups for meaningful effect, theories holding harmful intentions towards a group of people making more sense as appear true as opposed to theories inclined towards just an individual. Similarly, Lamberty and Imhoff (2018) in a study to analyze effects of individual dissimilarities on the conspiracy insolences agree with the assertions of Van Prooijen et al. (2018) by contending that conspiracy paradigms affect intergroup views that take antagonistic stands in regards to arrangements against one of the social groups. Additionally, Jang et al. (2019) posit that conspiracy theories achieve great effect when a well-connected social group holding a strong identity feels under threat out of the conspiracies, thus their associated members are potential targets of the conspiracies. Therefore, the existence of a strong social group identity combined with a perceived sense of threat to the section or whole group aids in making created conspiracy theories become relevant.
Motivated Reasoning and Conspiracy Theories
Jerit and Barabas (2012) point out those individuals are likely to make interpretations of similar information differently due to their variations in ideologies. On this note, Lodge and Taber (2013) explain the best approach through which this phenomenon can be explained is through motivated reasoning since through this approach individuals interpret the new information brought to them without relating them to their previous points of view. In the context of scholars from America, the concept of motivated reasoning is interpreted to be bigotry phenomena and political principles (Miller, Saunders, & Farhart, 2016). Motivated reasoning is driven by the fact that conspiracy theories can only be effectively incorporated in one’s mind if the previous experiences of that individual are aligned to the set of beliefs that is to be adopted (Carey, Nyhan, Valentino, & Liu, 2016). As such, Saunders (2017) presupposes that that just as individuals have the ability to isolate events and situations on the basis of their past experiences of political inclinations they also poses ability to understand and make proper interpretations of new information presented to them and compare them with the function performed by conspiracy theories in the dealings of politics.
In this regard, an experimental survey conducted in the US on the impact of media on conspiracy theories on motivated reasoning of interpretation showed only the impartial participants were seen influenced by conspiracy thoughts (Uscinski, Klofstad, & Atkinson, 2016). Republicans involved in the survey, however, showed a different interpretation of conspiracy ideologies as they were depicted to be convinced media was a source of conspiracy against their interests with the Democrats expressed lack of believing in any influence of motivated reasoning on conspiracy theories. The differences in interpretation of conspiracy theories in relation to motivated reasoning were as well seen outside the political arena to other fields. Carey, Nyhan, Valentino, and Liu, (2016) discovered that even the people who were strong fans of sport had varied interpretations on the feeling of defeat and win situations revealing some fans had shown likelihood of believing other competing teams involved in mischiefs to become winners without blaming their teams for whatever misconduct they made. These indicated motivated reasoning positively influenced conspiracy theories to great a great extent promoting the development and communication of these theories.
Communication of Conspiracy Theories
The manner in which the content conspiracy theories are handed down from one political regime to the other or from one person to the other in the society is very vital. Different avenues and media are outlined to be the key facilitators of conspiracy theories communication. Nefes (2014) in a study noted that after the attempted assassination of the Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian in the year 2004 a day to the general election the talks about conspiracy theories gained momentum in the major cities. Additionally, Nefes (2017) indicated it’s out of such event of the year 2004 that opposition of the events increases resulting in increased spread of conspiracy talks in very part of the world. In the endeavour of gaining deeper insight on the communication of conspiracy theories Nefes (2017) carried out an analysis of the content posted in the online system regarding the 2004 assassination attempt in Taiwan. The results revealed the greatest threat of the attempt was linked to the widespread ideologies of conspiracy theories and every study participants based their argument for the threat to be on their conspiracy beliefs on politics. Klein, Clutton, and Dunn (2018) noted that communication entailing conspiracies was highly catalysed by experiences of anger among societal members. Consequently, Southwell, Thorson, and Sheble (2018) argue that conspiracy spread has flourished with the advancement of communication technology pointing out the internet to be the leading promoting factor to the widespread communication of conspiracy ideologies.
On the contrary, Klein, Clutton, and Polite (2018) espouses that although internet is viewed to be promoting the escalation of conspiracies among societies, the process is not as easy as many scholars take it. In support of this proposition Uscinski, Atkinson, and DeWitt (2018) argue though the use of internet could be promoting easy spread of conspiracy theories, the rate at which conspiracy theories are developing may not be directly attributed to internet influence. To them increased sharing of conspiracy theories through the internet is likely to promote debate among many people hence reducing the rate of spread. In addition to the internet, arts and media have been pointed out to be other means through which conspiracy theories are communicated. Gosa (2011) in a study in the US on the role of hip-hop music in spreading conspiracy theories noted hip-hop songs highly mobilized people towards fighting against those who wanted to disadvantage them thus promoting spread of conspiracy beliefs.
Conspiracy Theory and Crime
As the concept of conspiracy theories gain prominence all over the world in the recent year’s scholars and psychologists have raised concern over the increased problems brought forth by conspiracy beliefs such as serious disputes in politics, increased dithering of environment, predisposition among other crimes (Oliver & wood, 2014). Additionally, conspiracy theories have been identified to be detrimental to society since it sometimes poses a sense of powerlessness and disappointment among different groups of people in the society resulting in the upsurge of crime and violence in the course of sharing resources (Jolley & Douglas, 2014). In support of Jolley and Douglas (2014) sentiments Imhoff and Bruder (2014) holds conspiracy theories tend to increase the feeling of isolation and prejudice between the group of those in power and the commoners since the commoners feel those in power are conspiring increasing crime rates due to the differences of interest between the two cadres. Greenhill and Oppenheim (2017) associate conspiracy theories with a high level of uncertainty. Through this uncertainty the members of the society are motivated to engage in minor crimes on daily basis such as corrupting to get services resulting in reduced efficiency in working of any organization or country due to the feeling of lack of satisfaction cultivated by conspiracy ideologies. Equally, since conspiracy theories are linked to high level of blackmailing and lack of engaging the common members of the society in most of vital events in the society, the isolated people develop deviant behaviour in the attempt of countering what they consider as conspiracy resulting to increased crime rate (Jolley & Douglas, 2014). Uscinski and Parent (2014) argue those who believe in conspiracy theories have a likelihood of ratifying war as one of the ways of forcing those thought to be conspiring respond to their demands recruiting more people in committing crimes as they fight for what they are demanding.
Gap in Literature
There exist widespread assumptions and critical analysis and discussion of conspiracy theories especially in relation to technological advancement in the recent past. The paucity in literature on beliefs in conspiracies is linked to little focus on how conspiracy beliefs influence the moral behaviour of the members of the society, a factor which has resulted to increased crimes and political instability and increased cases of terrorism among the people who follow certain theories of conspiracy. Similarly, for many decades now scholars have been laying more emphasis on how conspiracy theories rise and flourish with few scholars focusing on how the ideologies of conspiracy are communicated and how useful or detrimental they are. As well, little effort has been made by scholars to explore how conspiracy theories influence stress management among people. This study sought to explore how beliefs on conspiracy theories affect political and economic power as well as establishing how conspiracy beliefs influence technology and crime and examine how these beliefs affect thinking and decision-making ability and how to manage stress. This study, therefore, seeks to fill the existing gap of knowledge and give new insight in the skirmish of helping people manage stress and reduce crime rate which is fuelled by conspiracy beliefs.
Summary
This chapter sought to review other scholarly works done to explore the origin of theories of conspiracy with an aim of forming the basis for the current study. Additionally, the section made an empirical review on reasons for the rise and spread of theories of conspiracy while critically analysis the key underlying principles of conspiracy theories. This helped the researcher to build the current study on the impact of conspiracy theories on decision making and stress management among people and establishing how these theories impact on politics and economic development. As well, the chapter reviewed the ways through which conspiracy theories are communicated to the members of the society and how beliefs on conspiracy influence peoples’ behaviour in relation to crime.
Research Methodology
Detailed elucidation of the steps that a researcher plans to use in the undertaking of conducting the entire research is important as it helps in developing coherence of the entire research process. Bryman (2016) notes the description of the research process incorporated in a given study and the key methods involved in developing a research strategy, study design, the used study approaches and the procedures of gathering and tabulating of data constitutes a good methodology chapter. Therefore, this section of the study presents the study designs, methods of gathering and analysing the collected data, the study approach involved, the instruments of data collection as well as the ethics guiding the researcher in carrying out the entire research process.
Research Design
In order to gather and analyze relevant data for this study, an exploratory design was adopted. Exploratory design helped the researcher in establishing the relation between the existing literature and variables of the current study to guide the process of data collection. Hübner, Holzapfel, and Kuhn (2015) presuppose that exploratory design aims at providing the researcher with knowledge and deeper understanding for carrying out investigations of how the already existing literature contribute to the topic under study hence obtaining the best responses of the formulated study questions. This proposition made adoption of exploratory design the appropriate research design for the current study. Equally, exploratory design was used in the study due to its flexibility in allowing the researcher to evaluate the reviewed existing basic theories of conspiracy and their underlying key principles which guide the researcher in approving or disapproving the set hypothesis.
This study used deductive approach in the process of examining different variables of the study with the study hypotheses being formulated from the conspiracy theories under exploration. Sekaran and Bougie (2016) maintain that this approach helps the researcher in critically evaluating the existing theories and guide the process of hypothesis formulation while enabling easy testing of the validity of the formulated hypothesis through analysis of the gathered data. Testing the validity of the set hypothesis was done through the collection of quantitative data from influences of conspiracy theories on political, economic and stress management processes among individuals in the society. Use of the deductive approach in this study was important since the approach helped the researcher to gain in-depth knowledge on the effects of conspiracies and beliefs on the economic, political and stress management and decision making situations. This was achieved through reviewing the problem under study from a broader point of view and narrowing down to specific key objectives of the topic under study thus enabling quick gathering and analysis of the data without any biases.
Survey strategy was adopted in this study. Ponto (2015) claims that the survey strategy entails gathering of data from responses to select questions that are answered by the study participants. Survey strategy was embraced in the current study since it allowed the researcher to gather and explore empirical data which was more reliable due to its authentic nature as it was obtained from real-world where conspiracy believers providing direct information and their opinions. Similarly, survey strategy helped the researcher to gather accurate data on how conspiracy theories had impacted on the political, economic and stress management experiences of people. In the current study, structured questionnaires were involved in the process of gathering information from those who believed in conspiracy theories with survey strategy being incorporated since it was cost-effective in gathering information while providing reliable data that facilitated achievement of justifiable conclusions.
This study embraced the use of quantitative methods in the process of re-counting, surmising and solving the problem under study while carrying out tabulations of the gathered data numerically. According to Bell, Bryman and Harley (2018) use of quantitative methods provides an opportunity of describing the opinions of the study participants in a numerical way. This makes hence the process of describing the relationship between the hypotheses and research objectives clear to enhance decision making. Particularly, quantitative method was used in assessing the relationship between the variables measured numerically and the statistical descriptions assigned to them as this was the case during the selection of the most appropriate statistical analysis method.
Sampling Procedure
Population. This study targeted participants living in independent country in the attempt of understanding how they perceived conspiracy theories and how it impacts on decision making and stress management. The study examined their beliefs in conspiracy theories ranging from politically inspired conspiracies to socially-inspired theories. The understanding of their thought processes was further correlated with decision-making behaviour and how they manage their stresses.
Sample. The selected number of people that were engaged in the collection of data constituted the sample. In the study, the researcher used random sampling to select 72 appropriate participants. Random sampling was associated with the elimination of researcher bias because the selection is not dependent on prejudices from the researcher. Secondly, random sampling is a non-probabilistic approach, and therefore, it allowed achievement of the target sample size in the shortest time possible (Emerson, 2015). Considering the quantitative nature of the study, the data collected was used to develop findings that were generalizable to the target population. The use of random sampling enhanced the probability of representing the entire population with the sample attributes varying optimally. While the sampling method was easy and non-technical to implement, it was cost-effective. Different attributes were targeted in the selected participants. The inclusion-exclusion criteria are below.
Inclusion criteria. The included participants were required to be residents of the country, and able to read and understand written study instructions. The participants were required to have a healthy mental wellbeing to explore their beliefs in conspiracy theories concerning their stress management capacities. The participants were required to be believers in some form of conspiracies. There were also required to be between 18 years and 60 years of age to capture people in active daily living.
Exclusion criteria. The study excluded minors because of the potential for variability in worldviews regarding conspiracy theories. Moreover, the study excluded people with poor mental health because they were presumed to have difficulties in problem-solving and weak stress management strategies. Finally, people with low capacity to take written study instructions were considered outliers of the study.
Recruitment. Following identification of the potential study participants, the researcher approached them individually, and made requests for participation verbally and through a request letter (in the appendix). Thereafter, the researcher debriefed the participants on the immediate and long-term benefits of participation. The study’s aim and objectives were elucidated. The researcher outlined the roles of the participants in the study, including their rights of participation, which were further outlined in the ethics form (in the appendix). Before filling in the questionnaires, each participant was required to sign an informed consent form for their questionnaires to be regarded as complete.
Data Collection
Instruments. The primary tool for gathering data in this study was survey questionnaires. To ensure the collected information provided expected answers for the set study questions to achieve the objectives of the study variety of questions were incorporated during the process of designing questionnaires. To start with, closed-ended questions which required the respondents to select answers from the provided multiple choices were adopted in the survey questionnaire with most of the multiple-choice questions used set based on the Likert Scale. Furthermore, yes/no as well as open-ended questions were incorporated in the questionnaire to give respondents to express their opinions on the variables under study. Zhang et al (2017) elucidate the use of questionnaires is suitable in studies involving a relatively large population. In this regard, the researcher found the use of a survey suitable in the current study since it involved a large number of participants in a standardized manner increasing the chances of getting accurate information on the problem under study.
Collection. Various maiden activities were linked to the procedure involved in the collection of information in the current study. To start with, the researcher came up with the questionnaires’ cover letter which the study participants were to complete individually. Later, the researcher developed a sheet that contained detailed description concerning the study, prepared an informed consent form and questioning sheet for study participants. After the preparation of the five important forms was completed, the forms were emailed to the identified prospective study participants to give them time to read and understand the debriefing sheet before signing the informed consent form. Lastly, the researcher ensured the data collected was confidential during the process of data gathering since the questionnaire did not necessitate participant naming.
Data Analysis
The collected raw data in the questionnaires were examined to missing entries or incorrectly filled questionnaires. Data was coded appropriately and tabulated in IBM SPSS v16 for statistical evaluation and analysis. To establish how the belief in conspiracy theories influences political and economic power, technology and crime, regression analysis was performed where ordinary least squares of independent variables were considered enumerating the ANOVA findings. To enumerate how the belief in conspiracy theories influences the quality of thinking in decision making and stress management, correlation analysis was performed. As such, the Pearson product-moment correlation model was carried out on the independent variables against the belief in conspiracy theories (Walker, 2017). Descriptive figures and tables were used in the presentation of findings.
Ethical Considerations
Research consent was sought from the institutional review board (IRB) to allow the recruitment of human participants into the study. This allowed to application of institutional guidelines in the collection of raw data. Secondly, informed consent was sought from individual participants. In the ethics form, the participants were adequately advised that participation was on a free-will basis and that one would withdraw freely without any consequences. Moreover, a participant was at liberty to respond to any of the study questions without any penalties whatsoever. Lastly, the identity of participants was regarded as confidential with all the collected data coded to mask the identity of the participants. All participants were advised that only excerpts from their responses were used in the development of the study. Withdrawal from the study was up to two weeks following the collection of filled study questionnaires.
Summary
The study was based on quantitative methods where the researcher employed deductive approaches in the collection and analysis of data. Using a survey strategy, exploratory design was used considering the paucity of literature on the study subject. While studying the general population on their belief in conspiracy theories and their impacts, random sampling was used in the selection of study participants. Following debriefing and signing of informed consent forms, data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires. Scoring was done and data tabulated in SPSS for analysis using the OLS regression model and Pearson product-moment correlation model. The findings are presented in the below chapter.
Results
The issued questionnaires were assessed to eliminate incomplete questionnaires and missing data. Of the 72 issued questionnaires, all (100%) were returned having been correctly filled and with no missing data. The responses were tabulated in SPSS to allow for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics of demographic data of participants was assessed. Thereafter, associations between conspiracy theories and political and economic power influences were examined using statistical models.
Demographic Analysis
While the current study purposed to establish the impacts of the belief in conspiracy theories around the world, the researcher explored diverse population attributes that influence the view of conspiracy theories, including the language, age, sex, and nationality of the participants.
Language. While all the participants English-speaking, the attribute was considered as a pathway of propagating the belief in conspiracy theories considering the commonality in the language used in debating and discussing issues pertaining to conspiracy theories.
Age. The age of participants varied markedly with a mean age of 31 years and a standard deviation of 7.135. The evaluation of age was based on the fact that the level of beliefs in conspiracies changes with age of an individual. The participants aged 29 years were the majority as elicited in Table 1 below, an age linked to an increased diversity in belief in conspiracy theories. Young people, particularly the millennial participants who are more into the social media community where conspiracies are spread briskly, have an increased tendency to attach to conspiracies.
Table 1: Age of Participants (Source: Author)
How old are you?
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid 16 1 1.4 1.4 1.4
18 1 1.4 1.4 2.8
20 2 2.8 2.8 5.6
21 1 1.4 1.4 7.0
23 3 4.2 4.2 11.3
24 1 1.4 1.4 12.7
25 3 4.2 4.2 16.9
26 4 5.6 5.6 22.5
27 5 6.9 7.0 29.6
28 5 6.9 7.0 36.6
29 9 12.5 12.7 49.3
30 7 9.7 9.9 59.2
31 3 4.2 4.2 63.4
32 4 5.6 5.6 69.0
34 4 5.6 5.6 74.6
35 3 4.2 4.2 78.9
36 2 2.8 2.8 81.7
37 3 4.2 4.2 85.9
39 1 1.4 1.4 87.3
40 2 2.8 2.8 90.1
42 1 1.4 1.4 91.5
43 1 1.4 1.4 93.0
44 1 1.4 1.4 94.4
45 1 1.4 1.4 95.8
47 1 1.4 1.4 97.2
49 1 1.4 1.4 98.6
54 1 1.4 1.4 100.0
Total 71 98.6 100.0
Missing System 1 1.4
Total 72 100.0
Gender. The disparity in sex on how the two mainstream genders differ on the belief in conspiracy theories was assessed. Fig 1 below demonstrated the percentage ration of male to females involved in the study depicting more females as opposed to males. Ideally, there are no predictions of the predilection of gender on susceptibility to the belief in conspiracy theories with respect to the impacting consequences, but are influenced based on the political, economic or social affiliations.
Figure 1: Gender characteristics of the participants (Source: Author)
Nationality. The country of origin of the participants was assessed considering its role in the strength of conspiracy beliefs that people hold. As illustrated in the Table 2, the number of participants varied with respect to their nationality with more people of British nationality, followed by people of Romanian citizenry and a small fraction from other nationalities.
Table 2: Nationality of participants (Source: Author)
Relational Analysis
Belief in conspiracy theories and its impacts on political and economic power. The first question inquired how beliefs in conspiracies influenced political and/or economic power. The participants were asked on their positions regarding difference beliefs in conspiracy concepts. First, the researcher inquired on the belief that the government involves itself in extra-judicial killings of public personalities and citizens, and keeping it a secret. With a mean of 3.62 and a mode of 4, it is evident that a third of the respondents somewhat agreed that the government involves itself in secret extrajudicial murder of its citizens. The findings suggest that people consider governments a threat in the manipulation of power through extrajudicial killings. As noted in Table 3, this belief in conspiracy was only refuted by 7 (9.7%) of participants.
Table 3: Perception on government-aided killings (Source: Author)
Similarly, the belief that presidential power is second to that of small unidentified groups with the secret group controlling the world politics, and major political decisions, were assessed. The control of the small unknown groups on world politics is skewed towards agreeing and somewhat agreeing accounting for 61.1% cumulatively. The results suggest the presence of a power player in government outside presidency. Related findings, as depicted in Table 4, were shown by 62.5% of the respondents who were inclined towards agreeing and somewhat agreeing on the control of the small unknown groups on major political decisions, with a mean of 3.75.
Table 4: belief in small unknown groups controlling world politics and major decisions (Source: Author)
An assessment of the belief in conspiracies relating to governments permitting perpetration of terrorism activities while disguising their involvement showed a mean of 3.67 identifying with a positive skewness of 0.731. Of the 72 participants, 54.2% somewhat agreed or agreed to the notion that governments use people as proxies to mask their involvement in criminal activities, while 63.9% positively identified with the manipulation of small groups of people in the development of certain significant global events. Equally, the results support the alternative hypothesis that there is perceived interaction or relation between the belief in conspiracy theories and the level of power politics and/or economy globally.
Belief in conspiracy theories and its impact on technology and crime. The second question inquired on the level of impact that belief in conspiracies has on use of new technology, and perpetration of crime. The participants were asked the extent to which they believed in the use of secret organizations to communicate with extraterrestrials, but kept the fact from the public domain. The number of people who agreed and disagreed was equal in each category as depicted in Fig 2. The findings reflect a position that citizens are not sure and cannot confirm their postulate on the presence of extraterrestrial bodies and use of technology in communication with secret organizations. The intuition is confirmed by the number of people who were not sure of the communication between secret organizations and extraterrestrial beings, which was statistically significant.
Figure 2: Belief in communication between secret organization and extraterrestrial beings (Source: Author)
Equally, the belief in concealment of evidence of aliens contact and sightings of UFO was evaluated. The number of people who agreed on the conspiracy was significantly higher (52.8%) than those who disagreed to contact between human and extraterrestrial bodies. The findings show that people believe in the presence of secret UFO, and that crucial information is concealed deliberately from the public domain for self-interest and manipulation, or fabrication with suppression of scientific evidence to deceive the public. In the study, 37.5% of the participants noted that they agreed to the presence of the conspiracy on information and scientific evidence. The belief in the theory that particular infectious agents and/or diseases are resultant of deliberate, concealed efforts was tested. Relatedly tested is the theory that experiments involving medicinal drugs or novel technologies are continually performed on people devoid of their consent or knowledge. In the study, 58.4% and 69.4% of participants affirmed the postulates respectively. The conspiracy theory that technology with mind-control abilities is implemented on people devoid of their knowledge, and that advanced, new technologies are being suppressed, were explored. The study revealed that 65.3% either somewhat agreed or affirmatively agreed to the theory that some form of technology with mind-controlling capability has been created and used on people without their knowledge. Individuals who somehow agreed on the suppression of technologies that could harm current industries were significantly higher than those who strongly disagreed to the said technological suppression as depicted in Table 5. The results hold the alternative to the second null hypothesis depicting the presence of a perceived interaction between the belief in conspiracy theories and technology use and/or crime level globally.
Table 5: belief in technologies in use at different capacities (Source: Author)
Belief in conspiracy theories and its impact on the quality of thinking in decision making and stress management. The third question assessed how beliefs in conspiracy theories interacted with stress level. The analysis of different variables on the thinking process of an individual during problem solving on a scale of 1 to 8 showed that of the 72 participants, more than a quarter of people engage critical thinking in carrying out their daily activities pursuant of their life goals. The findings suggest adequacy in critical thinking to enhance their problem solving capabilities. The intuition is in line with a score higher than 5, which was met by all participants, as shown in Table 6, depicting how they think when solving a problem, circumventing a problem, or their enthusiasm in meeting set goals, basing their thought processes on past experiences and the belief in a feasible solution.
Table 6: Critical thinking and problem solving scores (Source: Author)
I can think of many ways to get out of a jam. I energetically pursue my goals. I am easily downed in an argument. There are lots of ways around any problem. I can think of many ways to get the things in life that are important to me. My past experiences have prepared me well for my future. Even when others get discouraged, I know I can find a way to solve the problem. I meet the goals that I set for myself.
N Valid 72 72 71 72 71 72 72 72
Missing 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
Mean 5.44 5.93 3.79 6.04 5.99 6.21 5.93 5.61
Std. Deviation 1.509 1.447 1.934 1.486 1.469 1.352 1.367 1.317
Variance 2.279 2.094 3.740 2.210 2.157 1.829 1.868 1.734
Skewness -.320 -1.023 .393 -.761 -.532 -.813 -.688 -.876
Std. Error of Skewness .283 .283 .285 .283 .285 .283 .283 .283
Similarly, personal beliefs on how stressful situations are managed were explored with respect to stress level in the previous month. Table 7 highlights on the stress scores of the participants. A mean ranging between 2.5 and 3.5 was obtained when participants were asked how often they could contain their stress and stressors, a finding that signifies strong interaction between stress management and critical thinking in problem solving.
Regression Analysis
In this study, the variable applied as dependent to define the belief in conspiracy theories was the belief in the involvement of the government in extra-judicial killings. The independent variables were all the 10 questions assessing the stress levels. Analysing the independent variables singularly against the dependent variable, 22.5% of the participants showed their stress level impacted on their belief in conspiracy theories. The fraction has been shown to be statistically insignificant as depicted in Table 7 because the significance score is 0.106, which is greater than 0.05. The findings explain that with a significance of 0.106 (F(10, 58) = 2.494, P = .106), the 22.5% of the variability in stress level can be explained by a participant’s level of belief in conspiracy theories.
Table 7: Regression ANOVA summary (Source: Author)
On the other hand, the assessment of individual independent variables showed that the way people felt on how things were going their way significantly (0.025 significance score, P = 0.05) influenced their belief in conspiracies.
Correlation Analysis
Using Pearson correlation model, and on analysing the independent variable seen to influence belief in conspiracies, it is established that stress level significantly relates to the level of belief in conspiracy theories with a score of 0.062 (P = 0.1).
Table 8: Correlation between stress level and belief in conspiracies (Source: Author)
From an analytical stand-point, the R score between 0 and 1 is indicative of a positive relationship between the correlating variables under study. The statistical evidence presented in the analysis shows a 0.062 correlation coefficient implying that life stresses increases the propensity to belief in conspiracy theories. As with others, the findings support the alternative to the third null hypothesis holding that there is a perceived relationship between the belief in conspiracy theories and stress level in an individual.
Discussion
This section of the study presents the summary of the discoveries made on the influences of conspiracy theories into the economic, political and decision making ability among the conspiracy believers and how conspiracy beliefs impact the stress management ability among people. As well, summary of the findings obtained in the current study has been made in relation to the reviewed literature in this chapter. In addition, a conclusive summary of the impacts of conspiracy theories on technology and increase in crime rate among people has been provided in this chapter. Similarly, recommendations on the best approaches to be incorporated by conspiracy believers in the process of managing stress and reducing crimes that are associated with influence from conspiracy beliefs have been made.
Jolley and Douglas (2014) explained that paradigms of conspiracy form the basis of pleasing and motivating people globally to support or turn away from certain political movements with their beliefs concerning politics being catalysed by the personal experiences they have from the conspiracy theory they consider right. Additionally, Buss (2009) argue that the extent to which politics is influenced by the beliefs obtained from conspiracy theories vary from one country to the other depending on the psychological and environmental differences and points of view on politics held by the different conspiracy believers. Consequently, findings in relation to the impacts of conspiracy theories on political and economic power revealed that conspiracy beliefs indicating that governments involve in extrajudicial killings may be true. As such, the findings showed the majority of conspiracy believers felt that males were more prone to be affected by extrajudicial killings although females who involved in politics may have fallen victims as well. Similarly, the findings showed that some groups of unknown people in any government could be having almost equal power to the head of government and that such small groups of people who were basically motivated by conspiracy beliefs were highly influential to the politics of the world. Such small groups of conspiracy believers impacted either positively or negatively to the politics of the government which failed to honour their views. The findings further indicated that governments secretly involved in the process of allowing the development of terror groups secretly, use some individuals in hiding its involvement in criminal activities. As well, the findings revealed that based on conspiracy believes certain group of individuals was responsible for stimulating political wars as well as holding political events which were aimed at influencing other world political activities.
Conspiracy theories relatively increase the thought of lack of inclusivity in the national events among individuals of certain social class resulting in the emergence of conflict and increased crimes among those who feel side-lined against those in power (Jolley & Douglas, 2014). Furthermore, Imhoff and Bruder (2014) associated theories of conspiracy to be posing a sense of uncertainly upon the members of society who largely rely on conspiracy belief. As such, Imhoff and Bruder (2014) maintain it is out of these uncertainties that conspiracy believers tend to indulge in engaging on minor crimes such as bravery with an aim of gaining access to government services increasing the level of prejudice among conspiracy believers and those in power leading to the outbreak of war. On the other hand, Southwell, Thorson, and Sheble (2018) shows due to technological advancement the concept of conspiracy theories has gained fame as they spread easily leading to increased believers of conspiracy theories a factor that poses challenges to the government among countries in the world since crimes have also increased as a result of technological advancement. Concerning the impacts of conspiracy theories on technology and crime, the finding in the current study revealed that improvement in level of technology has led to increased crime rate since secret groups formed by conspiracy believers were able to disseminate their information with other terror groups in different global regions secretly without the knowledge of the other people. Similarly, the findings showed some viruses and diseases were spread deliberately by some organizations which believed in conspiracy theories in order to do away with some targeted group of individuals. As well, the findings brought out that scientists involved in manipulation of basic facts regarding health criminal acts to cheat the general public while the government used some individuals in the process of concealing its involvement in criminal activities as well as concealing the evidence of the government contact with alien criminals. Additionally, the findings showed technology helped in concealing any research carried out to explore how the existing industries would be harmed.
Conspiracy theories and beliefs stem from one’s inner thought as opposed to the investigative thoughts as people may contend (Swami et al, 2014). Further, Douglas et al (2016) argue conspiracy theories are a result of spontaneous thinking marked by a high level of belief in conspiracy patterns that influence one’s ability to develop critical thinking and stress management ability. In this regard, the findings of this study indicated that conspiracy theories hardly impacted on the quality of thinking that a conspiracy believer developed during stress management and when making pertinent decisions affecting life. For instance, the findings showed even when the situations became very tough individuals got intrinsic motivation from their state of mind and past experiences thus gaining more courage to continue fighting hard and keep on trying the possible ways of managing the stress and making wise decisions.
Conclusion
On the basis of the elucidated findings and discussions made in this study conspiracy theories have been deduced to impact on the political and economic power. Conversely, extrajudicial killings have been concluded to be among the negative impacts of conspiracy beliefs linked to politics. Further, it was concluded that the most hit gender in issues related to the extrajudicial killing which is highly influenced by conspiracy beliefs on politics are males although the difference between the number of males and females involved in these crimes was minimal. Additionally, it was concluded that conspiracy theories impacted on the power owned by individuals in the society since even the heads of state-owned lesser power when compared to the small group of individuals who controlled politics of the whole world due to their beliefs on conspiracy. Moreover, a conclusion was made that conspiracy theory greatly impacted the decision making the power of the government where there is only small of individuals who are believers of the conspiracy who had the power to mark the beginning of certain political events such as going to war.
In view of the effect of conspiracy theories on technology and crime, it was concluded that technological advancement led to widespread conspiracy beliefs into different places as well as improving the coordination of organizations formed by conspiracy believers secretly posing more danger to those thought to be conspiring against others. This phenomenon, therefore, indicated technological advancement impacted on conspiracy theories. Equally, it was concluded that conspiracy theories resulted to increase crime rate among people who undermine themselves due to a sense of isolation making them indulge in forceful deeds such as corruption in order to receive services from those holding higher ranks in the government. Further, it was concluded that advancement in technology impacted on conspiracy beliefs since it was easy for scientists to conceal the information regarding any torture done to the members of the society through concealing the correct information creating conducive environment for the ruling government.
Concerning the influence of conspiracies on the management of stress and decision making power, it was concluded that conspiracy beliefs had no significant impact on how people made decisions and the manner in which they managed stress in their daily lives. As such, it was noted conspiracy beliefs did not prevent people from pursuing their desires and achieving their set objectives despite any challenges they faced in the process of working towards the set goals. Lastly, it was concluded that conspiracy theories did not have any impact on the past experiences of one’s decision-making ability hence viewing conspiracy theories of a lesser impact on helping people to make critical decisions since this was majorly influenced by one’s state of mind and living past experiences.
Limitations
According to (Kumar, 2019) any challenges that a researcher cannot be able to control during the process of data collection and which can impact negatively on the collected data should be viewed as study limitation. Since this study used survey questionnaires in gathering data there was likelihood of respondents to provide biased opinions in the open-ended questions due to variation in personal believes. This research was hence limited by provision of biased information from the respondents, inability to remember all the answers for the questions presented in the questionnaire and exaggeration of some responses. To ensure biasness was eliminated from the study the researcher incorporated use of relatively large sample size during data gathering.
Recommendations
The findings of the study isolate different ways through which conspiracy theories influence political and economic powers as well as crime and technology. On the basis of the findings, it is recommended that proper strategies be developed to address stress issues to enhance development of abstract perspectives in the understanding of conspiracy theories. Additionally, the study recommends development of guidelines in stress management therapy to guide on the best approaches to manage belief in conspiracy theories coining the guidelines to line the reality in order to augment problem-solving capabilities. The strategy would allow enhanced capability to make adept decisions on life issues. Lastly, further research is recommended to explore how belief in conspiracy theories influences different life facets, whether in political, economic or social aspects.
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Appendix
Appendix A: Participant Invitation Letter
PARTICIPANT INVITATION LETTER
You are being invited to participate in a research study. Before you agree it is important that you understand what your participation would involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully.
Who am I?
I am a postgraduate student in the School of Psychology at the University of East London and am studying for an MSc in Psychology. As part of my studies I am conducting the research you are being invited to participate in.
What is the research?
I am conducting research into the impact of belief in Conspiracy Theories around the World.
My research has been approved by the School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee. This means that my research follows the standard of research ethics set by the British Psychological Society.
Why have you been asked to participate?
You have been invited to participate in my research as someone who fits the kind of people I am looking for to help me explore my research topic. I am looking to involve
I emphasise that I am not looking for ‘experts’ on the topic I am studying. You will not be judged or personally analysed in any way and you will be treated with respect.
You are quite free to decide whether or not to participate and should not feel coerced.
What will your participation involve?
You will be asked to listen to one video each and after to complete three questionnaires which should take you around 15 minutes.
I will not be able to pay you for participating in my research but your participation would be very valuable in helping to develop knowledge and understanding of my research topic
Your taking part will be safe and confidential
Your privacy and safety will be respected at all times.
Data will be collected anonymously.
Since this is a study of stress, if you feel any sign of distress or discomfort I cannot provide personal counselling, but I can point you to the following sources of support if necessary : “ Anxiety UK helpline , BACP Find a Therapist Directory )”.
https://www.bacp.co.uk/search/Therapists
What if you want to withdraw?
You are free to withdraw from the research study up to two weeks after the interview has been conducted, without any explanation, disadvantage or consequence.
Appendix B: Ethics Form
UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON
School of Psychology
APPLICATION FOR RESEARCH ETHICS APPROVAL
FOR RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN PARTICIPANTS
FOR BSc RESEARCH
FOR MSc/MA RESEARCH
FOR PROFESSIONAL DOCTORATE RESEARCH IN CLINICAL, COUNSELLING & EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
SECTION 1. Your details
1. Your name:
2. Your supervisor’s name:
3. Title of your programme: (e.g. BSc Psychology)
MSc Psychology
4. Submission date for your BSc/MSc/MA research:
5. Please tick if your application includes a copy of a DBS certificate (see page 3)
I won’t need to include a copy of a DBS certificate as I do not intend to invite children or vulnerable adults to participate in the research.
6. Please tick if your research requires DBS clearance but you are a Prof Doc student and have applied for DBS clearance – or had existing clearance verified – when you registered on your programme (see page 3)
7. Please tick if you need to submit a DBS certificate with this application but have emailed a copy
8. Please tick to confirm that you have read and understood the British Psychological Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct (2018) and the UEL Code of Practice for Research Ethics (See links on page 1)
SECTION 2. About your research
9. What your proposed research is about:
The proposed research is about the impact of exposure to conspiracy theories.
My analyses will address the following questions:
How does belief in conspiracies affect people’s stress level?
We know from research that exposing people to conspiracy theories is used to justify and maintain conflict or to attribute blame to an unjust social system. Political conspiracies seem to make people less likely to engage in the political system, climate change conspiracies appear to discourage people from taking action to reduce their carbon footprint, and even in the workplace, perceiving conspiracies can have potential dangers , decreasing job commitment and satisfaction and increasing the desire to leave. So whilst it could be argued that conspiracy theories should mobilize people to get together actually have the opposite effect , so belief in conspiracies has negative consequences.
We will assess if there is a relationship between belief in conspiracies and stress.
References:
Abalakina-Paap, M., Stephan, W. G., Craig, T., Gregory, L. (1999). Beliefs in conspiracies. Political Psychology, 20, 637–647.
Douglas, K. M., Leite, A. C. (2017). Suspicion in the workplace: Organizational conspiracy theories and work-related outcomes. British Journal of Psychology, 108, 486–506.
Personality and Individual Differences, 10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.036, 138, (163-166), (2019).
Abalakina-Paap, M., Stephan, W. G., Craig, T., and Gregory, W. L. (1999). Beliefs in conspiracies. Pol. Psychol. 20, 637–647. doi: 10.1111/0162-895X.00160
Design of the research:
For this research quantitative method ( ANOVA design ) will be used. I will assess if there is a relationship between belief in conspiracies and stress.
To do this I will manipulate the belief in conspiracy theories which represents the independent variable. I will do this by asking participants to watch a short video in one of three conditions: one designed to increase belief in conspiracies ,one neutral and one designed to reduce belief.
Then I will measure the impact on various dependent variables ( stress, optimism, hope ) and analyses if these are affected positively or negatively.
Variables will be obtained from three questionnaires.
Recruitment and participants (Your sample):
Proposed number of participants: 150 people
Age range: 18 and over
Gender : both males and females
No conditions in Ethnicity or Educational Background.
Measures, materials or equipment:
For this research participants will be asked firstly to listen to one of three short videos, randomly assigned. After this, participants will be asked to complete three questionnaires from which we are interested in understanding the impact of people believing in Conspiracy Theories. Participants are assured that their responses will be kept completely confidential ,so data will be collected anonymously.
The study should take around 15 minutes to complete, and participants won’t receive incentives for their participation. Participation in this research is voluntary. Participants have the right to withdraw at any point during the study, for any reason, and without any prejudice. Since this is a study of stress and I cannot provide counselling, participants will be provided with support contacts if necessary :
“Anxiety UK helpline , BACP Find a Therapist Directory”.
https://www.bacp.co.uk/search/Therapists
This survey will be best displayed on a laptop or desktop computer. Some features may be less compatible for use on a mobile device.
Questionnaire used for the study:
1. The Generic Conspiracist Belief Scale. Brotherton, French, and Pickering (2013). Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: the generic conspiracist beliefs scale. Frontiers in psychology, 4. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279
2. The Trait Hope Scale. Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S. T., et al.(1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 570-585.
3. The Perceived Stress Scale. Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., and Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 24, 386-396.
12. If you are using copyrighted/pre-validated questionnaires, tests or other stimuli that you have not written or made yourself, are these questionnaires and tests suitable for the age group of your participants?
Yes
13.Outline the data collection procedure involved in your research:
Participants in this study research will be given an invitation letter. Before they agree to it , participants will have to understand what their participation would involve. I will ask participants to take time to read the information carefully. There will be information about who I am , what I am studying and the research study I will be conducting (along with my supervisor).
I will inform participants that my research has been approved by the School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee. This means that the research follows the standard of research ethics set by the British Psychological Society.
I will also let them know that they have been invited to participate in my research as someone who fits the kind of people I am looking for to help me explore my research topic. I emphasize that I am not looking for ‘experts’ on the topic I am studying. I will not judge or personally analyse in any way and participants will be treated with respect.
Data collection will be based on questionnaires participants will be asked to complete.
SECTION 3. Ethical considerations
14. Fully informing participants about the research (and parents/guardians if necessary):
Participants will be informed about the research in an invitation letter.
15. Obtaining fully informed consent from participants (and from parents/guardians if necessary):
16. Engaging in deception, if relevant:
There will be no deception
17. Right of withdrawal:
A participation invitation letter is attached.
18. Will the data be gathered anonymously?
Data will be collected anonymously.
YES
19. If NO what steps will be taken to ensure confidentiality and protect the identity of participants?
20. Will participants be paid or reimbursed?
NO
If YES, why is payment/reimbursement necessary and how much will the vouchers be worth?
SECTION 4. Other permissions and ethical clearances
21. Research involving the NHS in England
Is HRA approval for research involving the NHS required? NO
Will the research involve NHS employees who will not be directly recruited through the NHS and where data from NHS employees will not be collected on NHS premises? NO
If you work for an NHS Trust and plan to recruit colleagues from the Trust will permission from an appropriate member of staff at the Trust be sought and is a copy of this permission (can be an email from the Trust) attached to this application?
NO
22. Permission(s) from an external institution/organisation (e.g. a school, charity, workplace, local authority, care home etc.)?
Is permission from an external institution/organisation/workplace required? NO
If YES please give the name and address of the institution/organisation/workplace:
COPIES OF PERMISSIONS (LETTER OR EMAIL) MUST BE ATTACHED TO THIS APPLICATION
In some cases you may be required to have formal ethical clearance from the external institution or organisation or workplace too.
23. Is ethical clearance required from any other ethics committee?
NO
If YES please give the name and address of the organisation:
Has such ethical clearance been obtained yet?
If NO why not?
If YES, please attach a scanned copy of the ethical approval letter. A copy of an email from the organisation confirming its ethical clearance is acceptable.
Ethical approval from the School of Psychology can be gained before approval from another research ethics committee is obtained. However, recruitment and data collection are NOT to commence until your research has been approved by the School and other ethics committee/s as may be necessary.
SECTION 5. Risk Assessment
24. Protection of participants:
No potential hazards to participants or any risk of accident or injury to them
25. Protection of the researcher:
No health and safety risks
26. Debriefing participants:
Participants will be informed beforehand about the nature of the research.
27. Other:
28. Will your research involve working with children or vulnerable adults?*
NO
If YES have you obtained and attached a DBS certificate?
If your research involves young people under 16 years of age and young people of limited competence will parental/guardian consent be obtained.
If NO please give reasons. (Note that parental consent is always required for participants who are 16 years of age and younger)
29 Will you be collecting data overseas? No
If YES in what country or countries (and province if appropriate) will you be collecting data?
SECTION 6. Declarations
Declaration by student:
I confirm that I have discussed the ethics and feasibility of this research proposal with my supervisor.
Student’s number:
Supervisor’s declaration of support is given upon their electronic submission of the application
Appendix C: Notice of Ethics Review Decision
School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee
NOTICE OF ETHICS REVIEW DECISION
For research involving human participants
BSc/MSc/MA/Professional Doctorates in Clinical, Counselling and Educational Psychology
REVIEWER:
SUPERVISOR:
STUDENT:
Course: MSc Psychology
Title of proposed study: TBC
DECISION OPTIONS:
1. APPROVED: Ethics approval for the above named research study has been granted from the date of approval (see end of this notice) to the date it is submitted for assessment/examination.
2. APPROVED, BUT MINOR AMENDMENTS ARE REQUIRED BEFORE THE RESEARCH COMMENCES (see Minor Amendments box below): In this circumstance, re-submission of an ethics application is not required but the student must confirm with their supervisor that all minor amendments have been made before the research commences. Students are to do this by filling in the confirmation box below when all amendments have been attended to and emailing a copy of this decision notice to her/his supervisor for their records. The supervisor will then forward the student’s confirmation to the School for its records.
3. NOT APPROVED, MAJOR AMENDMENTS AND RE-SUBMISSION REQUIRED (see Major Amendments box below): In this circumstance, a revised ethics application must be submitted and approved before any research takes place. The revised application will be reviewed by the same reviewer. If in doubt, students should ask their supervisor for support in revising their ethics application.
DECISION ON THE ABOVE-NAMED PROPOSED RESEARCH STUDY
(Please indicate the decision according to one of the 3 options above)
2, Approved with minor amendments
Minor amendments required (for reviewer):
Since this is a study of stress, some reference to support contacts is recommended (e.g., support contacts that participants can see at any point of withdrawal from the study). This will support the ethics of protection of participants (e.g., include support contacts such as Anxiety UK helpline etc.), and protection of the researcher (e.g. a clear statement that the researcher cannot provide personal counselling but can point to the following sources of support).
Major amendments required (for reviewer):
Confirmation of making the above minor amendments (for students):
I have noted and made all the required minor amendments, as stated above, before starting my research and collecting data.
Student’s name :
Student number:
Date: 10/ May /19
(Please submit a copy of this decision letter to your supervisor with this box completed, if minor amendments to your ethics application are required)
ASSESSMENT OF RISK TO RESEACHER (for reviewer)
Has an adequate risk assessment been offered in the application form?
YES
Please request resubmission with an adequate risk assessment
If the proposed research could expose the researcher to any of kind of emotional, physical or health and safety hazard? Please rate the degree of risk:
HIGH
Please do not approve a high risk application and refer to the Chair of Ethics. Travel to countries/provinces/areas deemed to be high risk should not be permitted and an application not approved on this basis. If unsure please refer to the Chair of Ethics.
MEDIUM (Please approve but with appropriate recommendations)
LOW
Reviewer comments in relation to researcher risk (if any).
Reviewer
Date: 7May19
This reviewer has assessed the ethics application for the named research study on behalf of the School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee
RESEARCHER PLEASE NOTE:
For the researcher and participants involved in the above named study to be covered by UEL’s Insurance, prior ethics approval from the School of Psychology (acting on behalf of the UEL Research Ethics Committee), and confirmation from students where minor amendments were required, must be obtained before any research takes place.
For a copy of UELs Personal Accident & Travel Insurance Policy, please see the Ethics Folder in the Psychology Noticeboard
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