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Study finds economic inequality promotes

belief in conspiracy theories
by Eric W. Dolan — August 11, 2022 in Conspiracy Theories, Social Psychology

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New findings published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

  Long COVID study suggests lost
indicate that economic inequality increases susceptibility to belief in
connections between neurons may
conspiracy theories. The research provides evidence that the perception explain cognitive symptoms

of societal breakdown is a key pathway between inequality and conspiracy
beliefs.  Autistic people outperform

neurotypicals in a cartoon version of
an emotion recognition task
“A lot of previous studies focused on individual characteristics of people

believing in conspiracy theories. While I support the idea that there are
 Data from 62 countries provides
 individual differences in the tendency to believe in such theories, I evidence for a double standard in
wondered how societal features can have an impact on conspiracy gender rules
 beliefs,” explained study author Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara
 The desire for power leads men but
(@BrunoGab92), an adjunct professor and postdoctoral fellow at the
not women to engage in more sexual
 University of Padova. behavior in the workplace

  Attractive female students no longer

earned higher grades when classes
moved online during COVID-19

“With my PhD supervisor, Prof. Caterina Suitner, we started to think about  Meta-analysis shows a strong
how economic inequality may represent one of the structural antecedents association between loneliness and
depressive symptoms in children and
of conspiracy beliefs and developed the idea that conspiracy beliefs are
adolescents
used to psychologically cope with economic inequality. Then, I had the
opportunity to work with Professor Jolanda Jetten at the University of
Queensland. I am very grateful to them as they did not just provide
fundamental technical and theoretical guidance, but also boost my interest
in such topics.”

In a series of three initial studies, the researchers examined conspiracy

belief scores from a 2018 study that collected data from 25 countries,
conspiracy belief scores from a 2020 study that collected data from 18
countries, and conspiracy belief scores from the YouGov-Globalism
Project 2020, which collected data from 20 countries. The researchers
used Gini index estimates provided by the World Bank as their measure of
economic inequality.

Although the three datasets used different measures of conspiracy beliefs,

Salvador Casara and his colleagues found that greater economic
inequality was consistently associated with greater endorsement of
conspiracy beliefs at the country level.

In another study, 515 Australian citizens completed a task that assessed

their perceptions of economic inequality. Participants were shown a table
of five rows representing different wealth categories: “very poor,” “poor,”
“average in wealth,” “wealthy,” and “very wealthy.” They were asked to
estimate the number of people in each wealth category and wrote the
number in a box at the end of each row, with the five estimates adding up
to 100 people.

The participants then completed another task that assessed their general
tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. They read a brief blurb noting
RECENT
that “some political and social events are debated,” such as the 9/11
attacks, the death of Lady Diana, and the assassination of John F.
 Autistic people outperform
Kennedy. “It is suggested that the ‘official version’ of these events could neurotypicals in a cartoon version of
be an attempt to hide the truth to the public,” the blurb added. “This an emotion recognition task
‘official version’ could mask the fact that these events have been planned
and secretly prepared by a covert alliance of powerful individuals or  Meta-analysis shows a strong
association between loneliness and
organizations (for example secret services or government).”
depressive symptoms in children and
adolescents

 Long COVID study suggests lost

connections between neurons may
explain cognitive symptoms
The participants were then asked the extent to which they agreed or
disagreed with the statement “I think that the official version of the events  The desire for power leads men but
given by the authorities very often hides the truth.” not women to engage in more sexual
behavior in the workplace

The researchers found a positive relationship between perceived

 Data from 62 countries provides
economic inequality and conspiracy beliefs. In other words, participants evidence for a double standard in
who perceived greater economic inequality in Australia were more likely to gender rules
doubt “the official version of the events.”

The findings provided evidence that greater objective inequality and

greater perceived inequality were both correlated with greater
endorsement of conspiracy beliefs. But to determine whether inequality
 causes greater endorsement of conspiracy beliefs, Salvador Casara and
his colleagues conducted a series of four experiments that manipulated
the perception of inequality.

All four experiments, which included 543 individuals in total, found that
participants who envisaged their life in a highly unequal society were more
likely to endorse conspiracy beliefs, compared to those who envisaged
their life in a more equal society.

The researchers also found evidence that anomie (meaning the

perception that social systems have begun to fall apart) mediated the
relationship between inequality and conspiracy beliefs. The findings
indicated that “economic inequality prompts conspiracy beliefs because
inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (both its
leadership and its social fabric) and such increased anomie then triggers a
search for meaning and control which conspiracy beliefs promise to
provide,” the researchers explained.

“If we want to address the spreading of fake news and conspiracy

theories, it is necessary to start to think about how our societies are
creating suspicion, confusion, and conflicts among groups,” Salvador
Casara told PsyPost. “Targeting individuals’ beliefs or debunking
conspiratorial information may not be enough if the environment creating
the need for believing in conspiracy theories is not changed.”

The findings shed new light on the proliferation of conspiracy beliefs. But
Salvador Casara said that many factors related to conspiracy theories still
need to be explored.

“Conspiracy beliefs are a psychological concept related mostly to the

receivers of conspiracy theories, and previous research mostly focused on
individuals holding conspiracy beliefs,” the researcher explained.
“However, to fully understand the conspiracy-related phenomena, it is
important to highlight the important aspects of the other actors involved in
the communication process, including the senders, those that create
and/or share conspiracy theories, and the messages, namely conspiracy
theories, and the means of communication. I think it is fundamental that
future research would focus on the interaction among these aspects.”

The study, “The Impact of Economic Inequality on Conspiracy Beliefs“,

was authored by Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara, Caterina Suitner, and
Jolanda Jetten.

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