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Verschwörungstheorien gab es bereits vor der Covid-19-Pandemie. Dennoch hat die öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit für dieses Thema in letzter Zeit zugenommen (Eysenbach, 2020; Grodzicka & Harambam, 2021), möglicherweise auch aufgrund der Tatsache, dass sich Menschen, die an Verschwörungstheorien glauben, weniger an die Sicherheitsmaßnahmen zur Einschränkung der Pandemie gehalten haben (Pummerer, Böhm, et al., 2022). Verschwörungstheorien sind Erklärungen für gesellschaftliche und politische Ereignisse, die einer mächtigen Person oder Gruppe geheime und böse Absichten unterstellen (Douglas et al., 2017; Goertzel, 1994). Neben einer geringeren Einhaltung von Sicherheitsmaßnahmen in Bezug auf Covid-19 wurde der Glaube an Verschwörungstheorien auch mit anderen Verhaltensweisen in Verbindung gebracht, die der sozialen Norm widersprechen. Zum Beispiel gibt es einen Zusammenhang zwischen dem Glauben an Verschwörungstheorien und der Bereitschaft zu “Kavaliersdelikten” und gewaltvollem politischem Protest, sowie einer geringeren Bereitschaft zu sozialem Engagement und der Beteiligung an politischen Wahlen (Imhoff et al., 2021; Jolley et al., 2019; Jolley & Douglas, 2014b; van der Linden, 2015). Trotz zahlreicher Beispiele, die den Glauben an Verschwörungstheorien mit einzelnen Verhaltensweisen in Verbindung bringen, die den gängigen sozialen Normen widersprechen, fehlt bislang eine umfassende Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs und der Kausalität vom Glauben an Verschwörungstheorien und sozialen Normen. In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird der Zusammenhang zwischen dem Glauben an Verschwörungstheorien und der Einhaltung sozialer Normen untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, dass ein höherer Glaube an Verschwörungstheorien mit einer geringeren Einhaltung verschiedener Arten sozialer Normen zusammenhängt, und dass ein höherer Glaube an Verschwörungstheorien nachfolgend zu einer geringeren Befolgung der Normen führt, die von der Verschwörungstheorie in Frage gestellt werden. In einem zweiten Schritt werden verschiedene Möglichkeiten untersucht, wie man die Einhaltung von Normen unter Menschen, die an Verschwörungstheorien glauben erhöhen kann. Die in dieser Dissertation vorgestellten Studien deuten darauf hin, dass die Einhaltung von Normen erhöht werden kann, indem Verschwörungstheorien frühzeitig addressiert werden; durch soziale Interventionen, die auf Erwartungen von Personen aufbauen, die dem Individuum nahe stehen; und durch die Reflektion darüber, warum ein Verhalten allgemein als normativ angesehen wird. Die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation legen nahe, dass die geringere Einhaltung von Normen das Ergebnis ist einer anderen sozialen Realität, die mit dem Glauben an Verschwörungstheorien einhergeht und durch diesen verursacht wird. Durch die Beschreibung und Untersuchung dieser sozialen Realität in einem theoretischen und vier empirischen Manuskripten leistet diese Dissertation einen wichtigen Beitrag zum Verständnis des Glaubens an Verschwörungstheorien. Darüber hinaus eröffnet sie neue Wege für Interventionen, die den Glauben an Verschwörungstheorien reduzieren und die Einhaltung von Normen von Menschen, die an Verschwörungstheorien glauben, steigern können. Conspiracy theories were already around before the Covid-19 pandemic, but public attention to this topic increased during that time (Eysenbach, 2020; Grodzicka & Harambam, 2021), potentially also due to the lower adherence to norms ensuring public safety among people believing in conspiracy theories (Pummerer, Böhm, et al., 2022). Conspiracy theories are explanations for societal and political events that allege secret, yet harmful, arrangements by a powerful individual or group (Douglas et al., 2017; Goertzel, 1994). In addition to lower adherence to safety-measures regarding Covid-19, believing in conspiracy theories has also been related to other behaviors that go against the accepted social norm, for example a greater willingness to engage in everyday crimes and violent political action, and lower prosocial engagement and intentions to vote in public elections (Imhoff et al., 2021; Jolley et al., 2019; Jolley & Douglas, 2014b; van der Linden, 2015). Despite many examples linking the belief in conspiracy theories to single non-normative behaviors, a broader examination of the relationship between and causality of a conspiracy belief and norm adherence so far is missing. This dissertation examines the relationship between conspiracy belief and adherence to social norms. It reports that higher conspiracy belief is related to lower norm adherence across different kinds of social norms, and that a higher conspiracy belief subsequently leads to lower adherence to norms questioned by the conspiracy theory. In a second step, it also examines different ways of how norm adherence among people believing in conspiracy theories might be increased. Studies reported in this dissertation suggest that norm adherence can be increased by addressing conspiracy theories early on, through social interventions based on the expectations of people close to the individual, and by prompting reasoning why a behavior is considered normative. Overall, this dissertation suggests that the lower norm adherence among people believing in conspiracy theories is a result of a different social reality that is accompanied and caused by the belief in conspiracy theories. By describing and examining this social reality through one theoretical and four empirical manuscripts, this dissertation makes an important contribution in understanding conspiracy belief. It further opens up new routes for interventions aimed at reducing conspiracy belief as well as increasing norm adherence among people higher in conspiracy belief.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-spp-10.1177_19485506221144150 for Think About It! Deliberation Reduces the Negative Relation Between Conspiracy Belief and Adherence to Prosocial Norms by Lotte Pummerer, Lara Ditrich, Kevin Winter and Kai Sassenberg in Social Psychological and Personality Science

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-spp-10.1177_19485506211000217 for Conspiracy Theories and Their Societal Effects During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Lotte Pummerer, Robert Böhm, Lau Lilleholt, Kevin Winter, Ingo Zettler and Kai Sassenberg in Social Psychological and Personality Science

Conspiracy theories offer unvalidated explanations for important political and societal events and thus are likely to develop around a crisis, such as the Corona pandemic. Research has shown that a general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories—a so-called conspiracy mentality—comes with negative societal consequences, such as decreased social engagement and less trust in authorities. However, this has not been tested for concrete conspiracy theories like the ones around the Corona pandemic. Social engagement and trust in authorities are essential to successfully fight the pandemic. Therefore, we examined the relation between the belief in two Corona-related conspiracy theories and trust in authorities, support for governmental regulations, social engagement, social distancing, and hygiene measures in two studies (total N = 909). Believing in a Political Corona Conspiracy (accusing government and media) showed a stronger (and unique) negative relation to all desired outcomes than believing in a China Corona Conspiracy (accusing China of developing the virus). However, believing in the theories was not related to hygiene measures. Overall, believing in specific conspiracy theories predicts harmful attitudes and behaviours similarly to conspiracy mentality, but to a stronger extent. Findings underscore the relevance of conspiracy theories in the context of the Corona pandemic.

Funder: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONCYT); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100007350, Funder: Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) postdoctoral fellowship, Funder: The HSE University Basic Research Program, Funder: JSPS KAKENHI Grant JP20K14222, This N = 173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey – an open science effort to improve understanding of the human experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic between 30th March and 30th May, 2020. The dataset allows a cross-cultural study of psychological and behavioural responses to the Coronavirus pandemic and associated government measures like cancellation of public functions and stay at home orders implemented in many countries. The dataset contains demographic background variables as well as measures of Asian Disease Problem, perceived stress (PSS-10), availability of social provisions (SPS-10), trust in various authorities, trust in governmental measures to contain the virus (OECD trust), personality traits (BFF-15), information behaviours, agreement with the level of government intervention, and compliance with preventive measures, along with a rich pool of exploratory variables and written experiences. A global consortium from 39 countries and regions worked together to build and translate a survey with variables of shared interests, and recruited participants in 47 languages and dialects. Raw plus cleaned data and dynamic visualizations are available.

This N=173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey – an open science efort to improve understanding of the human experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic between 30th March and 30th May, 2020. The dataset allows a cross-cultural study of psychological and behavioural responses to the Coronavirus pandemic and associated government measures like cancellation of public functions and stay at home orders implemented in many countries. The dataset contains demographic background variables as well as measures of Asian Disease Problem, perceived stress (PSS-10), availability of social provisions (SPS-10), trust in various authorities, trust in governmental measures to contain the virus (OECD trust), personality traits (BFF-15), information behaviours, agreement with the level of government intervention, and compliance with preventive measures, along with a rich pool of exploratory variables and written experiences. A global consortium from 39 countries and regions worked together to build and translate a survey with variables of shared interests, and recruited participants in 47 languages and dialects. Raw plus cleaned data and dynamic visualizations are available., Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) JP17H00875 JP18K12015 JP20H04581 JP20K14222, Grant Agency of the Czech Republic GC19-09265J, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) CVU: 613905, FWO, HSE University Basic Research Program