Abstract
Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? This study breaks from much previous research and attempts to explain conspiratorial beliefs with traditional theories of opinion formation. Specifically, we focus on the reception of informational cues given a set of predispositions (political and conspiratorial). We begin with observational survey data to show that there exists a unique predisposition that drives individuals to one degree or another to believe in conspiracy theories. This predisposition appears orthogonal to partisanship and predicts political behaviors including voter participation. Then a national survey experiment is used to test the effect of an informational cue on belief in a conspiracy theory while accounting for both conspiratorial predispositions and partisanship. Our results provide an explanation for individual-level heterogeneity in the holding of conspiratorial beliefs and also indicate the conditions under which information can drive conspiratorial beliefs.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 57-71 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Political Research Quarterly |
| Volume | 69 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2016 |
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Keywords
- belief systems
- conspiracy theory
- media bias
- partisanship
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
Cite this
What Drives Conspiratorial Beliefs? The Role of Informational Cues and Predispositions. / Uscinski, Joseph; Klofstad, Casey A; Atkinson, Matthew D.
In: Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 1, 01.03.2016, p. 57-71.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - What Drives Conspiratorial Beliefs? The Role of Informational Cues and Predispositions
AU - Uscinski, Joseph
AU - Klofstad, Casey A
AU - Atkinson, Matthew D.
PY - 2016/3/1
Y1 - 2016/3/1
N2 - Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? This study breaks from much previous research and attempts to explain conspiratorial beliefs with traditional theories of opinion formation. Specifically, we focus on the reception of informational cues given a set of predispositions (political and conspiratorial). We begin with observational survey data to show that there exists a unique predisposition that drives individuals to one degree or another to believe in conspiracy theories. This predisposition appears orthogonal to partisanship and predicts political behaviors including voter participation. Then a national survey experiment is used to test the effect of an informational cue on belief in a conspiracy theory while accounting for both conspiratorial predispositions and partisanship. Our results provide an explanation for individual-level heterogeneity in the holding of conspiratorial beliefs and also indicate the conditions under which information can drive conspiratorial beliefs.
AB - Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? This study breaks from much previous research and attempts to explain conspiratorial beliefs with traditional theories of opinion formation. Specifically, we focus on the reception of informational cues given a set of predispositions (political and conspiratorial). We begin with observational survey data to show that there exists a unique predisposition that drives individuals to one degree or another to believe in conspiracy theories. This predisposition appears orthogonal to partisanship and predicts political behaviors including voter participation. Then a national survey experiment is used to test the effect of an informational cue on belief in a conspiracy theory while accounting for both conspiratorial predispositions and partisanship. Our results provide an explanation for individual-level heterogeneity in the holding of conspiratorial beliefs and also indicate the conditions under which information can drive conspiratorial beliefs.
KW - belief systems
KW - conspiracy theory
KW - media bias
KW - partisanship
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84957801937&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84957801937&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1065912915621621
DO - 10.1177/1065912915621621
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84957801937
VL - 69
SP - 57
EP - 71
JO - Political Research Quarterly
JF - Political Research Quarterly
SN - 1065-9129
IS - 1
ER -