Thought contagion? Conspiracy beliefs boost paranoid thoughts.

IF 3.8 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED

Applied psychology. Health and well-being Pub Date : 2024-11-01 Epub Date: 2024-07-19 DOI:10.1111/aphw.12577

Zuzanna Molenda, Marta Marchlewska, Adam Karakula, Wojciech Podsiadłowski, Marta Rogoza, Paulina Bagrowska, Dagmara Szczepańska

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Abstract

Conspiracy theories accusing specific groups of secret malevolent actions can foster a perception of the world as a dangerous place. In our research, we contend that both adherence and exposure to conspiracy beliefs can serve as a potential cause of certain psychological problems in the form of paranoid thoughts. This hypothesis was tested in three studies conducted among Polish and British participants. In Study 1 (longitudinal, N = 603), we found that conspiracy beliefs exerted a positive overtime effect on paranoid thoughts. Experimental studies 2 (N = 384) and 3 (N = 445), showed that being exposed to conspiracy theories (vs. control stimuli) heightened paranoid thoughts. In Study 3, we proposed a potential mechanism explaining this effect, according to which exposure to conspiracies increased paranoid thoughts via only negative intense emotions. Our work adds to the discussion on the consequences of conspiracy beliefs and has implications for mental health research, underlining the importance of designing interventions limiting the adverse effects of conspiracy beliefs.

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思想传染？阴谋论信念会助长偏执想法。

阴谋论指责特定群体的秘密恶意行为，会让人觉得世界是一个危险的地方。在我们的研究中，我们认为坚持和接触阴谋论信仰可能会导致某些心理问题，表现为偏执想法。这一假设在波兰和英国参与者进行的三项研究中得到了验证。在研究 1（纵向，N = 603）中，我们发现阴谋论信念对偏执想法有积极的超时效应。实验研究 2（样本数 = 384）和研究 3（样本数 = 445）表明，接触阴谋论（与对照刺激相比）会增强偏执想法。在研究 3 中，我们提出了解释这种效应的潜在机制，即接触阴谋论只会通过消极的强烈情绪增加偏执想法。我们的研究为有关阴谋论后果的讨论增添了新的内容，并对心理健康研究产生了影响，强调了设计干预措施限制阴谋论负面影响的重要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Applied psychology. Health and well-being PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED-

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

2.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International Association of Applied Psychology. It was established in 2009 and covers applied psychology topics such as clinical psychology, counseling, cross-cultural psychology, and environmental psychology.