The Victimizing Effects of Conspiracy Beliefs
Abstract
Abstract: Victimhood has been linked to conspiracy beliefs in various contexts. However, the causal relationship between these constructs remains unclear. Following previous work, conspiracy beliefs could be described as victimized beliefs that are consequences of perceiving one’s ingroup as especially suffering from a situation (i.e., exclusive forms of collective victimhood, comprising competitive victimhood). However, in the absence of causal examination, it might also be that conspiracy beliefs are victimizing beliefs that increase perceptions of victimhood. In Studies 1 and 2, which experimentally tested the widespread victimized beliefs interpretation (Ntotal = 730), induced exclusive victimhood increased neither specific nor generic conspiracy beliefs. In Study 3 (N = 335), I tested the reversed causal relations and found that exposure to specific or generic conspiracy theories in a fictitious society increased neither individual nor collective forms of victimhood. However, in Study 4 (N = 465), exposure to a specific conspiracy theory about a real-world conflict, compared to a generic conspiracy theory, increased exclusive forms of collective victimhood. By contrast, individual-level victimhood about systemic issues increased in both conspiratorial conditions. The goal of Study 5 (N = 561) was to distinguish the victimizing effects of exposure to a specific conspiracy theory from those of an intergroup conflict situation. Exposure to a conspiracy theory and to an intergroup conflict increased exclusive victimhood to the same extent, but the conspiracy condition again triggered more individual-level victimhood. Together, these results document that conspiracy beliefs have a self-oriented victimizing effect and that it is crucial to account for intergroup conflicts when studying the link between these beliefs and collective-level victimhood. Victimizing one’s status through conspiracy allegations might seek to gain advantages in crisis situations.
References
2022). ‘Why me?’ The role of perceived victimhood in American politics. Political Behavior, 44, 1583–1609. 10.1007/s11109-020-09662-x
(2022). Poisoned wells: Accusations, persecution, and minorities in medieval Europe, 1321–1422. University of Pennsylvania Press.
(2023). Supplemental materials to “The victimizing effects of conspiracy beliefs.” https://osf.io/8u9ph/
(2021). Affected more than infected: The relationship between national narcissism and Zika conspiracy beliefs is mediated by exclusive victimhood about the Zika outbreak. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 15, 1–11. 10.1177/18344909211051800
(2023). Rage against the machine: Investigating conspiracy theories about the video assistant referee on Twitter during the 2018 FIFA world Cup. Sport Management Review, 26(4), 495–516. 10.1080/14413523.2022.2127179
(2023). Conspiracy blaming in the aftermath of group relative deprivation [Manuscript in preparation].
(2020). Conspiracy beliefs, rejection of vaccination, and support for (hydroxy)chloroquine: A conceptual replication-extension in the COVID-19 pandemic context. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article
(565128 . 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.5651282021). Stand out of my sunlight: The mediating role of climate change conspiracy beliefs in the relationship between national collective narcissism and acceptance of climate science. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 24(5), 738–758. 10.1177/1368430221992114
(2022). A systematic review and meta-analytic synthesis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs. PsyArXiv. 10.31234/osf.io/rxjqc
(2021). Conspiracy beliefs and the individual, relational, and collective selves. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 15(10), Article
(e12639 . 10.1111/spc3.126392020). Collective victimhood as a form of adaptation. In J. Vollhardt (Ed.), The social psychology of collective victimhood (pp. 120–140). Oxford University Press.
(2013). Can a victim be responsible? Anti-semitic consequences of victimhood-based identity and competitive victimhood in Poland. In B. Bokus (Ed.), Responsibility: A cross-disciplinary perspective (pp. 69–77). Matrix.
(2019). Traumatic rift: How conspiracy beliefs undermine cohesion after societal trauma? Europe's Journal of Psychology, 15(1), 82. 10.5964/ejop.v15i1.1699
(2013). Measuring individual differences in generic beliefs in conspiracy theories across cultures: Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, Article
(225 . 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.002252022). The impact of economic inequality on conspiracy beliefs. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 98, Article
(104245 . 10.1016/j.jesp.2021.1042452022). Why do narcissists find conspiracy theories so appealing? Current Opinion in Psychology, 47, Article
(101386 . 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.1013862007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 175–191. 10.3758/BF03193146
(2020). The tendency to feel victimized in interpersonal and intergroup relationships. In J. Vollhardt (Ed.), The social psychology of collective victimhood (pp. 361–378).
(2021). Resolving the puzzle of conspiracy worldview and political activism: Belief in secret plots decreases normative but increases nonnormative political engagement. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12(1), 71–79. 10.1177/1948550619896491
(2022). Bullying and conspiracy theories. Social Psychology, 53(4), 198–208. 10.1027/1864-9335/a000492
(2016). Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: Validation of a French and English single-item scale. International Review of Social Psychology, 29(1), 1–14. 10.5334/irsp.8
(2021). Empirically derived guidelines for effect size interpretation in social psychology. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(3), 485–504. 10.1002/ejsp.2752
(2014). The role of social identification, intergroup threat, and out-group derogation in explaining belief in conspiracy theory about terrorism in Indonesia. International Journal of Research Studies in Psychology, 3(1), 35–50. 10.5861/ijrsp.2013.446
(2017). The rhetorical complexity of competitive and common victimhood in conversational discourse. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47(2), 167–179. 10.1002/ejsp.2255
(2022). The impact of conspiracy mentality on the perception of intergroup inequalities. [Manuscript submitted for publication].
(2023, January 9). What drove a mass attack on Brazil’s capital? Mass delusion. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/world/americas/brazil-riots-bolsonaro-conspiracy-theories.html
(2008). Precursors and mediators of intergroup reconciliation in Northern Ireland: A new model. British Journal of Social Psychology, 47(3), 481–495. 10.1348/014466607X238751
(2021). Signaling virtuous victimhood as indicators of Dark Triad personalities. Journal of Personality and Social psYchology, 120(6), 1634–1661. 10.1037/pspp0000329
(2020). The victims, the guilty, and “us”: Notions of victimhood in Slovakian conspiracy theories. In A. AstapovaO. ColăcelC. PintilescuT. Scheibner (Eds.), Conspiracy theories in Eastern Europe (pp. 186–204). Routledge.
(2022). “Historia est magistra vitae”? The impact of historical victimhood on current conspiracy beliefs. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(2), 581–601. 10.1177/1368430220968898
(1987). Conspiracy theory in conflict escalation. In C.F. GraumannS. Moscovici (Eds.), Changing conceptions of conspiracy (pp. 191–202). Springer. 10.1007/978-1-4612-4618-3_11
(2022). General inclusive victimhood predicts willingness to engage in intergroup contact: Findings from Bosnia‐Herzegovina and the Basque Country. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 52(2), 71–84. 10.1111/jasp.12835
(2014). Three layers of collective victimhood: Effects of multileveled victimhood on intergroup conflicts in the Israeli–Arab context. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 44(12), 778–794. 10.1111/jasp.12268
(2022). “Remember that we suffered!” The effects of historical trauma on anti-Semitic prejudice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 52(5), 341–350. 10.1111/jasp.12862
(2023). Group identification moderates the effect of historical trauma availability on historical trauma symptoms and conspiracy beliefs. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology. 10.1002/casp.2684
(2020). The dark side of social movements: Social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories. Current Opinion in Psychology, 35, 1–6. 10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.02.007
(2020). Studied and understudied collective victim beliefs: What have we learned so far and what’s ahead? In J. R. Vollhardt (Ed.), The social psychology of collective victimhood (pp. 163–185). Oxford University Press.
(2019). An existential threat model of conspiracy theories. European Psychologist, 25(1), 16–25. 10.1027/1016-9040/a000381
(2015). Inclusive victim consciousness in advocacy, social movements, and intergroup relations: Promises and pitfalls. Social Issues and Policy Review, 9(1), 89–120. 10.1111/sipr.12011
(2021). The role of comparative victim beliefs in predicting support for hostile versus prosocial intergroup outcomes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(3), 505–524. 10.1002/ejsp.2756
(2016). Inclusive victim consciousness predicts minority group members’ support for refugees and immigrants. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(6), 354–368. 10.1111/jasp.12368
(2021). Instrumentalization of Religious Conspiracy Theories in Politics of Victimhood: Narrative of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs. Religions, 12(10), 841. 10.3390/rel12100841
(