Association of personality traits and socio-environmental factors with COVID-19 pandemic-related conspiratorial thinking in the D-A-CH region

SN Social Sciences - Tập 4 - Trang 1-35 - 2024
Emilie Han1,2, Jakob Weitzer1,3, Brenda M. Birmann4, Martin Bertau5,6,7, Lukas Zenk8, Guido Caniglia9, Manfred D. Laubichler10,11,12, Eva S. Schernhammer1,4,12,13, Gerald Steiner8,11
1Department of Epidemiology, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
2Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine II, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
3Section Public Health and Health System, Federal Ministry of the Republic of Austria for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, Vienna, Austria
4Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
5Institute of Chemical Technology, Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, Freiberg, Germany
6Saxonian Academy of Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
7Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS, Fraunhofer Technology Center for High-Performance Materials THM, Freiberg, Germany
8Department for Knowledge and Communication Management, Faculty of Business and Globalization, University for Continuing Education Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria
9Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI), Klosterneuburg, Austria
10School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
11Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, USA
12Complexity Science Hub, Vienna, Austria
13Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA

Tóm tắt

Misinformation, lack of trust, and uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic have fostered the emergence of new conspiracy theories. In August 2021, we examined the association of individual personality traits and socio-environmental factors with high belief in pandemic-related conspiracies through an online survey among 3,067 quota-sampled German-speaking adults residing in the D-A-CH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). In multivariable-adjusted regression models, pandemic-related conspiracy belief was, first, negatively associated with tertile (T) of complexity thinking, optimism, and higher level of education (complexity thinking, ORT3vs.T1: 0.43, 95% CI 0.32–0.57, Ptrend < 0.01; optimism, ORT3vs.T1: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.30–0.56, Ptrend < 0.01; higher education, ORT3vs. T1: 0.67, 0.50-0.89; Ptrend <0.01) and second, positively associated with regular participation in religious meetings, not having recently voted, unwillingness of oneself or one’s close contacts to vaccinate, past COVID-19 infection and disapproval of COVID-19 mitigation measures. Our findings highlight the importance to foster complexity understanding through targeted interventions, such as in education settings, to help curb the spread of conspiracy theories. We conclude that, in order to effectively address the challenges posed by pandemic-related conspiracy theories, policymakers must acknowledge the impact of conspiracy beliefs on public health decisions while promoting transparent communication and interdisciplinary (between scientific disciplines) and transdisciplinary (between science and society) research, as well as science literacy and science diplomacy collaboration.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Ahmed W, Vidal-Alaball J, Downing J, López Seguí F (2020) COVID-19 and the 5G conspiracy theory: social network analysis of Twitter data. J Med Int Res 22(5):e19458. https://doi.org/10.2196/19458 Allington D, McAndrew S, Moxham-Hall V, Duffy B (2021) Coronavirus conspiracy suspicions, general vaccine attitudes, trust, and coronavirus information source as predictors of vaccine hesitancy among UK residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychol Med. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291721001434 Baker SA (2022) Alt. Health Influencers: how wellness culture and web culture have been weaponised to promote conspiracy theories and far-right extremism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eur J Cultural Stud 25(1):3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494211062623 Bartlett MS (1937) Properties of sufficiency and statistical tests. Proc R Stat Soc Ser A 1:268–282 Beierlein C, Kemper C, Kovaleva A, Rammstedt B (2012) Kurzskala zur Messung des zwischenmenschlichen Vertrauens: Die Kurzskala Interpersonales Vertrauen (KUSIV3). Working Paper Bierwiaczonek K, Kunst JR, Pich O (2020) Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories reduces social distancing over time. Appl Psychol Health Well-Being 12(4):1270–1285. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12223 Brotherton R (2015) Suspicious minds: why we believe conspiracy theories. Bloomsbury Sigma, New York Brotherton R, French CC, Pickering AD (2013) Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: the generic conspiracist beliefs scale. Front Psychol 4:1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279 Brown JD (2009) Principal components analysis and exploratory factor analysis—definitions, differences, and choices. JALT Test Eval SIG Newsletter 13(1):26–30 Bussink-Voorend D, Hautvast JLA, Vandeberg L, Visser O, Hulscher MEJL (2022) A systematic literature review to clarify the concept of vaccine hesitancy. Nat Hum Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01431-6 BVerfG (2022) Beschluss des Ersten Senats vom 21, Juli 2022 Castanho Silva B, Vegetti F, Littvay L (2017) The elite is up to something: exploring the relation between populism and belief in conspiracy theories. Swiss Polit Sci Rev 23(4):423–443. https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12270 Colautti L, Cancer A, Magenes S, Antonietti A, Iannello P (2022) Risk-perception change associated with COVID-19 vaccine’s side effects: the role of individual differences. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19(3):1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031189 De Coninck D, Frissen T, Matthijs K, d’Haenens L, Lits G, Champagne-Poirier O, Carignan M-E, David MD, Pignard-Cheynel N, Salerno S, Généreux M (2021) Beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19: comparative perspectives on the role of anxiety, depression and exposure to and trust in information sources. Front Psychol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.646394 Douglas KM, Leite AC (2017) Suspicion in the workplace: organizational conspiracy theories and work-related outcomes. Brit J Psychol (Lond, Engl: 1953) 108(3):486–506. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12212 Douglas KM, Sutton RM (2023) What are conspiracy theories? A definitional approach to their correlates, consequences, and communication. Annu Rev Psychol 74(1):271–298. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-032420-031329 Douglas KM, Sutton RM, Cichocka A (2017) The psychology of conspiracy theories. Curr Direct Psychol Sci 26(6):538–542. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417718261 Dow BJ, Johnson AL, Wang CS, Whitson J, Menon T (2021) The COVID-19 pandemic and the search for structure: social media and conspiracy theories. Soc Pers Psychol Compass 15(9):1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12636 Fathizadeh H, Afshar S, Reza M, Gholizadeh P (2020) SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) vaccines structure, mechanisms and effectiveness: a review. Int J Biol Macromol 188(January):740–750 Flaherty E, Sturm T, Farries E (2022) The conspiracy of Covid-19 and 5G: spatial analysis fallacies in the age of data democratization. Soc Sci Med (1982) 293:114546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114546 Förstl H (2020) Die COVID-19-Verschwörung in Theorie und Praxis [The COVID-conspiracy: theory and practice]. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 145(25):1870–1875 Franke VC, Elliott CN (2021) Meaninglessness, trust, and empathy in times of COVID-19. Societies 11(2):35 Gerlitz J-Y, Schupp J (2014) Research Notes Zur Erhebung der Big-Five-basierten Persönlichkeitsmerkmale im SOEP. DIW, Berlin Gjoneska B (2021) Conspiratorial beliefs and cognitive styles: an integrated look on analytic thinking, critical thinking, and scientific reasoning in relation to (dis)trust in conspiracy theories. Front Psychol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.736838 Goreis A, Voracek M (2019) A systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological research on conspiracy beliefs: field characteristics, measurement instruments, and associations with personality traits. Front Psychol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00205 Hao F, Shao W (2022) Understanding the influence of political orientation, social network, and economic recovery on COVID-19 vaccine uptake among Americans. Vaccine 40(14):2191–2201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.02.066 Hartmann M, Müller P (2023) Acceptance and adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures are shaped predominantly by conspiracy beliefs, mistrust in science and fear—a comparison of more than 20 psychological variables. Psychol Rep 126(4):1742–1783. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941211073656 Hinz A, Sander C, Glaesmer H, Brähler E, Zenger M, Hilbert A, Kocalevent R-D (2016) Optimism and pessimism in the general population: psychometric properties of the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R). Int J Clin Health Psychol 17:161–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2017.02.003 Hirsch C, Kotkamp L (2021) Austria becomes first Western country to resort to mandatory coronavirus vaccination. Politico. https://www.politico.eu/article/austria-mandatory-coronavirus-vaccination-february/ Islam MS, Kamal A-HM, Kabir A, Southern DL, Khan SH, Hasan SMM, Sarkar T, Sharmin S, Das S, Roy T, Harun MGD, Chughtai AA, Homaira N, Seale H (2021) COVID-19 vaccine rumors and conspiracy theories: the need for cognitive inoculation against misinformation to improve vaccine adherence. PLoS ONE 16(5):e0251605. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251605 Jennings W, Stoker G, Bunting H, Valgarðsson VO, Gaskell J, Devine D, Mckay L, Mills MC (2021) Lack of trust, conspiracy beliefs, and social media use predict COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Vaccines (Basel) 9(6):593. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9060593 Jolley D, Douglas KM (2014) The effects of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on vaccination intentions. PLoS ONE 9(2):e89177. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089177 Jones C, Galbraith N, Boyda D, Martin DBH, Jackson K (2023) A latent profile analysis of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: associations with thinking styles, mistrust, socio-political control, need for closure and verbal intelligence. Pers Individ Differ 207:112155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112155 Juanchich M, Sirota M, Jolles D, Whiley LA (2021) Are COVID-19 conspiracies a threat to public health? Psychological characteristics and health protective behaviours of believers. Eur J Soc Psychol 51(6):969–989. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2796 Kaiser HF (1970) A second generation Little Jiffy. Psychometrika 35:401–415 Kantorowicz-Reznichenko E, Folmer CR, Kantorowicz J (2022) Don’t believe it! A global perspective on cognitive reflection and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 pandemic. Pers Individ Differ 194:111666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111666 Karafillakis E, Simas C, Jarrett C, Verger P, Peretti-Watel P, Dib F, De Angelis S, Takacs J, Ali KA, Pastore Celentano L, Larson H (2019) HPV vaccination in a context of public mistrust and uncertainty: a systematic literature review of determinants of HPV vaccine hesitancy in Europe. Hum Vaccines Immunother 15(7–8):1615–1627. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2018.1564436 Kennedy J (2019) Populist politics and vaccine hesitancy in Western Europe: an analysis of national-level data. Eur J Public Health 29(3):512–516. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz004 Kim JH, Park J (2023) Perceived China threat, conspiracy belief, and public support for restrictive immigration control during the COVID-19 pandemic. Race Justice 13(1):130–152. https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221125818 Klösch B, Hadler M, Reiter-Haas M, Lex E (2023) Polarized opinions on Covid-19 and environmental policy measures. The role of social media use and personal concerns in German-speaking countries. Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2023.2201877 Konstantinou P, Georgiou K, Kumar N, Kyprianidou M, Nicolaides C, Karekla M, Kassianos AP (2021) Transmission of vaccination attitudes and uptake based on social contagion theory: a scoping review. Vaccines. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9060607 Lazarus JV, Wyka K, White TM, Picchio CA, Rabin K, Ratzan SC, Parsons Leigh J, Hu J, El-Mohandes A (2022) Revisiting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy around the world using data from 23 countries in 2021. Nat Commun 13(1):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31441-x Lebernegg NS, Eberl J-M (2021) Coronavirus Verschwörungstheories: Gekommen um zu bleiben? Austrian Corona Panel Project. https://bit.ly/corona-blog118 Maes J, Schmitt M, Schmal A (1995) Fragebogen für Empathie und Perspektivenübernahme. Beltz, Weinheim Mascia D, Iacopino V, Frisicale EM, Iacovelli A, Boccia S, Poscia A (2020) The impact of school and after-school friendship networks on adolescent vaccination behavior. Vaccines. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8010055 McCrae RR, Costa PT Jr (1999) A five-factor theory of personality. Handbook of personality: theory and research, 2nd edn. Guilford Press, New York, pp 139–153 Mesot J (2022) Advances in science diplomacy: showcasing new multidisciplinary approaches. In: Cauce AM, Flückiger Y, van der Zwaan B (eds) Universities as the fifth power? Opportunities, risks and strategies. Association Glion Colloquium, Geneva, pp 175–185 Oleksy T, Wnuk A, Maison D, Łyś A (2021) Content matters. Different predictors and social consequences of general and government-related conspiracy theories on COVID-19. Pers Individ Differ. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PAID.2020.110289 Oliver JE, Wood TJ (2014) Conspiracy theories and the paranoid style(s) of mass opinion. Am J Polit Sci 58(4):952–966. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12084 Pantazi M, Papaioannou K, Prooijen J (2022) Power to the people: the hidden link between support for direct democracy and belief in conspiracy theories. Polit Psychol 43(3):529–548. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12779 Paul KT, Eberl J-M, Partheymüller J (2021) Policy-relevant attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination: associations with demography, health risk, and social and political factors. Front Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.671896 Pertwee E, Simas C, Larson HJ (2022) An epidemic of uncertainty: rumors, conspiracy theories and vaccine hesitancy. Nat Med 28(3):456–459. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01728-z Pierre JM (2020) Mistrust and misinformation: a two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories. J Soc Polit Psychol 8(2):617–641. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v8i2.1362 Pummerer L, Bö Hm R, Lilleholt L, Winter K, Zettler I, Sassenberg K (2022) Conspiracy theories and their societal effects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Soc Psychol Pers Sci 13(1):49–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506211000217 Reid JC, Brown SJ, Dmello J (2023) COVID-19, diffuse anxiety, and public (mis)trust in government: empirical insights and implications for crime and justice. Crim Justice Rev. https://doi.org/10.1177/07340168231190673 Roose J (2020) Verschwörung in der Krise - Repräsentative Umfragen zum Glauben an Verschwörungstheorien vor und in der Corona-Krise. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V, Berlin The Royal Society (2010) New frontiers in science diplomacy. https://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/New_Frontiers.pdf Saiful M, Id I, Mostofa A-H, Id K, Kabir A, Southern DL, Khan SH, Hasan SMM, Sarkar T, Sharmin S, Das S, Roy T, Golam M, Harun D, Chughtai AA, Homaira N, Seale H (2021) COVID-19 vaccine rumors and conspiracy theories: the need for cognitive inoculation against misinformation to improve vaccine adherence. PLoS ONE 16(5):e0251605. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251605 Schernhammer ES, Weitzer J, Han E, Bertau M, Zenk L, Caniglia G, Laubichler MD, Birmann BM, Steiner G (2023) Determinants of trust in times of crises: a cross-sectional study of 3,065 German-speaking adults from the D-A-CH region. PLoS ONE 18(10):e0286488. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286488 Schernhammer E, Weitzer J, Laubichler MD, Birmann BM, Bertau M, Zenk L, Caniglia G, Jäger CC, Steiner G (2022) Correlates of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Austria: trust and the government. J Public Health (Oxf, Engl) 44(1):e106–e116. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdab122 Scholz RW, Steiner G (2015) Transdisciplinarity at the crossroads. Sustain Sci 10(4):521–526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0338-0 Steiner G, Laws D (2006) How appropriate are two established concepts from higher education for solving complex real-world problems? Int J Sustain High Edu 7(3):322–340. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370610677874 Sternisko A, Cichocka A, Cislak A, Van Bavel JJ (2023) National Narcissism predicts the belief in and the dissemination of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from 56 countries. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 49(1):48–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211054947 Stoler J, Klofstad CA, Enders AM, Uscinski JE (2022) Sociopolitical and psychological correlates of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the United States during summer 2021. Soc Sci Med 306(May):115112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115112 Sturgis P, Brunton-Smith I, Jackson J (2021) Trust in science, social consensus and vaccine confidence. Nat Hum Behav 5(11):1528–1534. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01115-7 Svoboda E (2022) Mastering the art of persuasion during a pandemic. Nature 610(7933):S34–S36. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03354-8 Swami V (2012) Social psychological origins of conspiracy theories: the case of the Jewish conspiracy theory in Malaysia. Front Psychol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00280 Swami V, Coles R, Stieger S, Pietschnig J, Furnham A, Rehim S, Voracek M (2011) Conspiracist ideation in Britain and Austria: evidence of a monological belief system and associations between individual psychological differences and real-world and fictitious conspiracy theories. Brit J Psychol 102(3):443–463. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.2010.02004.x Syrek C, Bauer-Emmel C, Antoni CKJ (2011) Entwicklung und Validierung der Trierer Kurzskala zur Messung von Work-Life Balance (TKS-WLB). Diagnostica 57:134–145. https://doi.org/10.1026/0012-1924/a000044 Uscinski JE (2018) Conspiracy theory phobia. In: Uscinski JE (ed) Conspiracy theories and the people who believe them. Oxford University Press, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190844073.001.0001 van Mulukom V, Pummerer LJ, Alper S, Bai H, Čavojová V, Farias J, Kay CS, Lazarevic LB, Lobato EJC, Marinthe G, Pavela Banai I, Šrol J, Žeželj I (2022) Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review. Soc Sci Med. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114912 van Prooijen J-W, Douglas KM (2017) Conspiracy theories as part of history: the role of societal crisis situations. Memory Stud 10(3):323–333. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698017701615 van Prooijen J-W, Douglas KM (2018) Belief in conspiracy theories: basic principles of an emerging research domain. Eur J Soc Psychol 48(7):897–908. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2530 van Prooijen J-W, van Vugt M (2018) Conspiracy theories: evolved functions and psychological mechanisms. Perspect Psychol Sci 13(6):770–788. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691618774270 Walter AS, Drochon H (2022) Conspiracy thinking in Europe and America: a comparative study. Polit Stud 70(2):483–501. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321720972616 Wang Y, Liu Y (2022) Multilevel determinants of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in the United States: a rapid systematic review. Prev Med Rep 25:101673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101673 Weitzer J, Birmann BM, Steffelbauer I, Bertau M, Zenk L, Caniglia G, Laubichler MD, Steiner G, Schernhammer ES (2022) Willingness to receive an annual COVID-19 booster vaccine in the German-speaking D-A-CH region in Europe: a cross-sectional study. Lancet Reg Health Europe 18:100414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100414 Weitzer J, Papantoniou K, Seidel S, Klösch G, Caniglia G, Laubichler M, Bertau M, Birmann BM, Jäger CC, Zenk L, Steiner G, Schernhammer E (2021) Working from home, quality of life, and perceived productivity during the first 50-day COVID-19 mitigation measures in Austria: a cross-sectional study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 94(8):1823–1837. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-021-01692-0