Maladaptive personality traits, religiosity and spirituality as predictors of epistemically unfounded beliefs

Abstract

The present research focuses on the question whether spirituality, religiosity and maladaptive personality traits, as measured by the PID-5 (antagonism, psychoticism, disinhibition, negative affectivity, detachment), predict epistemologically unfounded beliefs (conspiracies, pseudo-science and paranormal beliefs). The sample included 829 participants recruited through social networks (58% women, mean age 29.98 years). The results showed that especially psychoticism is a positive predictor of all types epistemologically unfounded beliefs (EUB). Spirituality and religiosity predicted only paranormal beliefs with very small effect size. No interaction between psychoticism and spirituality/religiosity in prediction of EUB was found. Results confirmed that some maladaptive personality traits (especially psychoticism) can play a significant role in EUB and should be taken into account when considering sources of EUB at the individual level.