IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/308504.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conspiracy beliefs and negative attitudes towards outgroups in times of crises: Experimental evidence from Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Endtricht, Rebecca
  • Kanol, Eylem

Abstract

While research on the determinants of conspiracy beliefs has been growing, there is still limited attention given to the broader consequences of conspiracy theories. This study examines the effects of conspiratorial framing on outgroup evaluations in the context of societal crises. Using an experimental design and a large representative sample of the German population, we exposed participants to conspiratorial framings of health, economic, and security crisis scenarios. The findings reveal that exposure to conspiratorial framing of crises leads to significantly more negative attitudes towards outgroups compared to control conditions. The impact is most pronounced in the security crisis treatment condition, particularly in war scenarios. Additionally, our study demonstrates the important role of political ideology, as individuals with left- as well as right-wing ideologies displayed more negative attitudes towards outgroups when exposed to conspiratorial framings of crises. These findings contribute to the literature by providing experimental evidence of the detrimental effects of conspiracy narratives on intergroup attitudes during crises.

Suggested Citation

  • Endtricht, Rebecca & Kanol, Eylem, 2024. "Conspiracy beliefs and negative attitudes towards outgroups in times of crises: Experimental evidence from Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 19(11), pages 1-20.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:308504
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312418
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/308504/1/Full-text-article-Endtricht-Kanol-Conspiracy-beliefs.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0312418?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michal Bauer & Jana Cahlíková & Julie Chytilová & Gérard Roland & Tomáš Želinský, 2023. "Shifting Punishment onto Minorities: Experimental Evidence of Scapegoating," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(652), pages 1626-1640.
    2. Roland Imhoff & Felix Zimmer & Olivier Klein & João H. C. António & Maria Babinska & Adrian Bangerter & Michal Bilewicz & Nebojša Blanuša & Kosta Bovan & Rumena Bužarovska & Aleksandra Cichocka & Sylv, 2022. "Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(3), pages 392-403, March.
    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. Bracco, Emanuele & De Paola, Maria & Green, Colin & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2022. "The spillover of anti-immigration politics to the schoolyard," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Pascal Achard & Sigrid Suetens, 2023. "The causal effect of ethnic diversity on support for redistribution and the role of discrimination," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1678-1696, December.
    3. Roşu, Maria-Magdalena & Fiscutean, Andrada & Paun, Mihaela, 2024. "The press and government, influencers of citizens’ political opinions: A quasi-experiment on Brexit," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 272-288.
    4. Shelley Boulianne & Sangwon Lee, 2022. "Conspiracy Beliefs, Misinformation, Social Media Platforms, and Protest Participation," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 30-41.
    5. Kevin Winter & Matthew J. Hornsey & Lotte Pummerer & Kai Sassenberg, 2022. "Anticipating and defusing the role of conspiracy beliefs in shaping opposition to wind farms," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(12), pages 1200-1207, December.
    6. Leonardo Bursztyn & Georgy Egorov & Ingar Haaland & Aakaash Rao & Christopher Roth, 2022. "Scapegoating during Crises," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 112, pages 151-155, May.
    7. Tuki, Daniel, 2024. "You’re not welcome! Violence and support for an open grazing ban policy in Kaduna, Nigeria," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue OnlineFir, pages 1-36.
    8. Bernd Schlipphak & Mujtaba Isani & Mitja D. Back, 2022. "Conspiracy Theory Beliefs and Political Trust: The Moderating Role of Political Communication," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 157-167.
    9. 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.
    10. Giuliano, Paola & Spilimbergo, Antonio, 2024. "Aggregate Shocks and the Formation of Preferences and Beliefs," CEPR Discussion Papers 19218, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Tomáš Želinský & Gerard Roland & Jana Cahlíková & Julie Chytilová & Michal Bauer, 2023. "Scapegoating of ethnic minorities: Experimental evidence," ECONtribute Policy Brief Series 044, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    12. Serhan Cevik, 2024. "How Mumbo-Jumbo conquered the world: empirical analysis of conspiracy theories," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1-13, August.
    13. Kinga Bierwiaczonek & Sam Fluit & Tilmann Soest & Matthew J. Hornsey & Jonas R. Kunst, 2024. "Loneliness trajectories over three decades are associated with conspiracist worldviews in midlife," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    14. Eric Chyn & Kareem Haggag & Bryan A. Stuart, 2022. "The Effects of Racial Segregation on Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence from Historical Railroad Placement," NBER Working Papers 30563, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Shelley Boulianne & Sangwon Lee, 2022. "Conspiracy Beliefs, Misinformation, Social Media Platforms, and Protest Participation," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 30-41.
    16. Steve Rathje & Jon Roozenbeek & Jay J. Bavel & Sander Linden, 2023. "Accuracy and social motivations shape judgements of (mis)information," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(6), pages 892-903, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:zbw:espost:308504. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    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.