Unpacking Conspiracy Mentality Through Cross-Country Predictors

Abstract

Conspiracy theories are beliefs about covert, influential organizations pursuing obscure, frequently illegal objectives. They are not merely cognitive distortions; they can have major political and societal repercussions, including eroding democratic standards, encouraging skepticism about science, and igniting radical ideologies. It is crucial to do cross-country research because the effects of conspiracy theories spread differ depending on the national and cultural setting. Through the identification of its primary individual and sociocultural predictors across nations, the current study provides a detailed understanding of conspiratorial thinking. In contrast to context-specific conspiracy beliefs, we analyze conspiracy mentality, a generic mindset, as a multifaceted disposition influenced by both individual characteristics and larger sociopolitical circumstances, utilizing data from the publicly accessible Comparative Conspiracy Research Survey (CCRS) released in 2023. Through descriptive and inferential analyses, we address a set of four research questions, exploring the socio-demographic, psychological, and political dimensions of conspiracy mentality. Our findings confirm and extend previous insights: while some predictors, such as populism, have a broad influence, others are shaped by specific political and cultural contexts. Importantly, our results are based on an analysis across eight countries, offering a broader perspective than much of the existing literature, which often focuses on single-country cases. Moreover, the present results are not limited to a specific conspiracy theory and rely on data from the general population, rather than from social media users, allowing for more generalizable conclusions about the drivers of conspiracy thinking worldwide.