IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i17p6710-d1232809.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conspiracy Theories, Trust in Science, and Knowledge during the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Cyprus

Author

Listed:
  • Marilena Mousoulidou

    (Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos 8042, Cyprus)

  • Michailina Siakalli

    (Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos 8042, Cyprus)

  • Andri Christodoulou

    (Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos 8042, Cyprus)

  • Marios Argyrides

    (Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos 8042, Cyprus)

Abstract

Conspiracy theories flourish during periods of crisis. One way to counteract the believability of conspiracy theories is trust in science and knowledge about the “perceived threat”, such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A total of 363 adults from Cyprus were recruited via convenience and snowball sampling methods. The data were collected via an internet-based questionnaire that examined participants’ belief in 17 conspiracy theory statements, trust in science and scientists, knowledge about the symptoms and the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, phobic anxiety, hostility, somatization, and personality traits based on the Big Five. The results suggest (a) the overall belief in conspiracy theories in Cyprus is low, even though a notable percentage holds a neutral stance towards these theories; (b) trust in science and knowledge about the symptoms and the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is negatively related to conspiracy theories, indicating the importance of trusting science and having knowledge as a means to counteract conspiracy theories; (c) young adults, those residing in rural areas, and those with a low education level are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories; (d) there are no significant associations between conspiracy theories and the psychological dimensions of phobic anxiety, hostility, and somatization; (e) there is difficulty in identifying specific traits related to conspiracy ideation. Public health officials could benefit from the findings when communicating information during periods of crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Marilena Mousoulidou & Michailina Siakalli & Andri Christodoulou & Marios Argyrides, 2023. "Conspiracy Theories, Trust in Science, and Knowledge during the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Cyprus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:17:p:6710-:d:1232809
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/17/6710/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/17/6710/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marilena Mousoulidou & Andri Christodoulou & Michailina Siakalli & Marios Argyrides, 2023. "The Role of Conspiracy Theories, Perceived Risk, and Trust in Science on COVID-19 Vaccination Decisiveness: Evidence from Cyprus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-15, February.
    2. van Mulukom, Valerie & Pummerer, Lotte J. & Alper, Sinan & Bai, Hui & Čavojová, Vladimíra & Farias, Jessica & Kay, Cameron S. & Lazarevic, Ljiljana B. & Lobato, Emilio J.C. & Marinthe, Gaëlle & Pavela, 2022. "Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    3. Marios Constantinou & Antonios Kagialis & Maria Karekla, 2021. "COVID-19 Scientific Facts vs. Conspiracy Theories: Is Science Failing to Pass Its Message?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-10, June.
    4. Malik Sallam & Deema Dababseh & Alaa’ Yaseen & Ayat Al-Haidar & Nidaa A. Ababneh & Faris G. Bakri & Azmi Mahafzah, 2020. "Conspiracy Beliefs Are Associated with Lower Knowledge and Higher Anxiety Levels Regarding COVID-19 among Students at the University of Jordan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-15, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. van Mulukom, Valerie & Pummerer, Lotte J. & Alper, Sinan & Bai, Hui & Čavojová, Vladimíra & Farias, Jessica & Kay, Cameron S. & Lazarevic, Ljiljana B. & Lobato, Emilio J.C. & Marinthe, Gaëlle & Pavela, 2022. "Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    2. Tianzhen Hu & Li Li & Chuanxue Lin & Zikun Yang & Cheng Chow & Zhipeng Lu & Chen You, 2022. "An Analysis of the Willingness to the COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shots among Urban Employees: Evidence from a Megacity H in Eastern China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-14, February.
    3. repec:cup:judgdm:v:17:y:2022:i:4:p:720-744 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Giuseppina Lo Moro & Giacomo Scaioli & Fabrizio Bert & Andrea Lorenzo Zacchero & Ettore Minutiello & Roberta Siliquini, 2022. "Exploring the Relationship between COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal and Belief in Fake News and Conspiracy Theories: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-12, July.
    5. Nefes, Türkay Salim & Präg, Patrick & Romero-Reche, Alejandro & Pereira-Puga, Manuel, 2023. "Believing in conspiracy theories in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic: Drivers and public health implications," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    6. Coelho, Priscila & Foster, Katrina & Nedri, Meriam & Marques, Mathew D., 2022. "Increased belief in vaccination conspiracy theories predicts increases in vaccination hesitancy and powerlessness: Results from a longitudinal study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    7. Aysen Kutan Fenercioglu & Gunay Can & Nurver Turfaner Sipahioglu & Osman Demir & Semih Gulluoglu & Iyigun Gedik & Gul Ece Altintas & Asena Cosgun & Zekiye Gurcan, 2022. "Impaired Perceptions and Conspiracy Beliefs about the Way of Emergence of the COVID-19 Infection," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-16, May.
    8. Nan, Xiaoli & Wang, Yuan & Thier, Kathryn, 2022. "Why do people believe health misinformation and who is at risk? A systematic review of individual differences in susceptibility to health misinformation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    9. Nina Hoffer & Sabrina Lex & Uwe K. Simon, 2022. "Virology in Schoolbooks—A Comprehensive Analysis of Austrian Biology Textbooks for Secondary School and Implications for Improvement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.
    10. Lukas Zenk & Gerald Steiner & Miguel Pina e Cunha & Manfred D. Laubichler & Martin Bertau & Martin J. Kainz & Carlo Jäger & Eva S. Schernhammer, 2020. "Fast Response to Superspreading: Uncertainty and Complexity in the Context of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-13, October.
    11. Dalibor Stanimirovic & Lucija Tepej Jocic, 2022. "Accelerated Digitalization of the Epidemiological Measures: Overcoming the Technological and Process Complexities of Establishing the EU Digital COVID Certificate in Slovenia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-16, November.
    12. Amelia Blamey & Ilan Noy, 2024. "Mistrust and Missed Shots: Trust and Covid-19 Vaccination Decisions," CESifo Working Paper Series 11134, CESifo.
    13. McKinley, Christopher J. & Limbu, Yam, 2024. "Promoter or barrier? Assessing how social media predicts Covid-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy: A systematic review of primary series and booster vaccine investigations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    14. Zhaoxie Zeng & Yi Ding & Yue Zhang & Yongyu Guo, 2022. "What Breeds Conspiracy Theories in COVID-19? The Role of Risk Perception in the Belief in COVID-19 Conspiracy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-11, April.
    15. Lloyd Balbuena & Merylin Monaro, 2021. "Fear of Infection and the Common Good: COVID-19 and the First Italian Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-10, October.
    16. Jonas R. Kunst & Aleksander B. Gundersen & Izabela Krysińska & Jan Piasecki & Tomi Wójtowicz & Rafal Rygula & Sander van der Linden & Mikolaj Morzy, 2024. "Leveraging artificial intelligence to identify the psychological factors associated with conspiracy theory beliefs online," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Marilena Mousoulidou & Andri Christodoulou & Michailina Siakalli & Marios Argyrides, 2023. "The Role of Conspiracy Theories, Perceived Risk, and Trust in Science on COVID-19 Vaccination Decisiveness: Evidence from Cyprus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-15, February.
    18. Chanté Johannes & Nicolette V. Roman & Sunday O. Onagbiye & Simone Titus & Lloyd L. Leach, 2024. "Relationship between Psychosocial Factors and Physical Activity among Undergraduate Students from a South African University," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(4), pages 1-20, April.
    19. Malik Sallam & Deema Dababseh & Huda Eid & Hanan Hasan & Duaa Taim & Kholoud Al-Mahzoum & Ayat Al-Haidar & Alaa Yaseen & Nidaa A. Ababneh & Areej Assaf & Faris G. Bakri & Suzan Matar & Azmi Mahafzah, 2021. "Low COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Is Correlated with Conspiracy Beliefs among University Students in Jordan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-13, March.
    20. Kampling, Hanna & Riedl, David & Hettich, Nora & Lampe, Astrid & Nolte, Tobias & Zara, Sandra & Ernst, Mareike & Brähler, Elmar & Sachser, Cedric & Fegert, Jörg M. & Gingelmaier, Stephan & Fonagy, Pet, 2024. "To trust or not to trust in the thrall of the COVID-19 pandemic: Conspiracy endorsement and the role of adverse childhood experiences, epistemic trust, and personality functioning," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).
    21. Stoler, Justin & Klofstad, Casey A. & Enders, Adam M. & Uscinski, Joseph E., 2022. "Sociopolitical and psychological correlates of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the United States during summer 2021," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:17:p:6710-:d:1232809. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.