The world is an unjust place: The impact of personal adversity on belief in conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories - that explain significant events as secret actions of the powerful - are widespread in society (Douglas et al., 2019). Worryingly, the consequences of conspiracy theories are significant and wide-ranging – from impacting global issues such as vaccination uptake and tackling climate change to worsening intergroup relations (see Jolley et al., 2020). Gaining a deeper understanding of why people are drawn to conspiracy theories to help inform interventions is not only timely but critical.
Research has established a relationship between victimisation and belief in conspiracy theories. For example, in a sample of UK White gay males, experiences of discrimination based on sexual orientation were associated with heightened HIV conspiracy theories that propose HIV is human-made (Jolley & Jaspal, 2020). Similarly, in Greek participants, historical collective victimhood was seen to foster conspiracy theorising (Pantazi, et al., 2020). Whilst victimisation due to group-based identities (i.e., sexuality, nationality) can be a catalyst for conspiracy beliefs, less is known about how experiences of personal adversity more broadly (i.e., negative life events) predict conspiracy beliefs and the mechanisms that underpin such a link.
When considering the mechanisms between adversity and conspiracy beliefs, one key factor to consider is the individual differences in how the adverse event is perceived (Luhmann et al., 2021). Individuals who experience adversity and perceive themselves as powerless victims will fare worse. That is, experiences of lifetime adversity have been argued to be strongly associated with changes in basic beliefs about the world where one might believe that the world is an unjust place (Janoff-Bulman, 1992). Empirical evidence has shown that traumatic experiences (e.g., robbery) are associated with an increased perception that the world is unjust (Corey, et al., 2015). Furthermore, individual differences in broad perceptions of how unjust the world is are associated with heightened conspiracy beliefs (Furnham, 2021). This PhD project will integrate these lines of research to examine whether experiences of personal adversity stimulate the perception of injustice in the world and increase belief in conspiracy theories.
Understanding whether a link exists between adversities, unjust beliefs and conspiracy beliefs will aid the development of interventions to target conspiracy beliefs. Namely, if adversity impacts the narrative of how justice in society is understood, a reframing of the narrative might help break the link between adversity and conspiracy beliefs. For example, research has shown how the narrative of “victim” vs “survivor” can change how an individual interprets an event (e.g., Delker, et al., 2020). It is possible that by changing this narrative in the context of adversity, the reframing may offer a protective factor against conspiracy beliefs emerging for those experiencing adversity.
In sum, this PhD project will first explore the links between personal adversity and conspiracy beliefs, alongside understanding the mechanisms that may explain this link (i.e., an unjust world). This knowledge base will then inform an intervention (i.e., reframing the narrative around adversity) that aims to break the link between adversity and conspiracy beliefs.