Isolated but Not Necessarily Lonely An Exploratory Analysis of Subjective Isolation and Conspiracist Ideation

Abstract

Previous research points to social/affiliative needs as playing an important role in orienting people towards conspiratorial thinking. Yet no research to date has compared the relative contribution of different forms of subjective interpersonal isolation to general conspiracist ideation (CI). Four studies (N = 2,452) compare the associations between three forms of subjective isolation (loneliness, existential isolation, alienation/anomie) and CI. Results from Studies 1-3 indicate that existential isolation and alienation, but not loneliness, independently predict higher CI over and above other relevant predictors. Study 4 found that after controlling for relevant covariates, only anomie predicted CI. Exploratory analyses revealed that unique effects of existential isolation on CI emerged when the breakdown of the leadership subdimension of anomie was excluded from the model. Implications of the four studies are discussed.