Political Ideology,Ingroup Favoritism,and Conspiratorial Thinking: Patriotism,Nationalism,and COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories

Abstract

This article examined the relationship between ideology and conspiratorial thinking and the related mediating effect of ingroup favoritism in a non-Western society. We investigated patriotism and nationalism as two favorable orientations toward national ingroups. We also examined their relationship with the general conspiracy mentality and the specific conspiracy beliefs that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that conservative ideology was associated with conspiratorial beliefs in China regardless of the specific conspiracy theories related to ingroups or outgroups, which indicates such tendencies may exist universally across cultures. Patriotism was not associated with conspiracy theories about the origin of COVID-19, whereas nationalism was negatively associated with the conspiracy theories about China (an ingroup) and positively associated with conspiracy theories about the US (an outgroup). Moreover, nationalism mediated the relationship between ideology and specific conspiracy beliefs during the pandemic. The general conspiracy mentality did not predict conspiracy theories about the origin of COVID-19. The results indicate that believing conspiracy theories is not only the result of a stable conspiracy mentality but is also influenced by ideology and intergroup relations.

Keywords

China conservatism conspiracy theories COVID-19 ingroup favoritism nationalism patriotism

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abalakina-Paap

Stephan

W. G.

Craig

T. Y.

Gregory

W. L.

(1999). Beliefs in conspiracies. Political Psychology, 20(3), 637–647. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00160

Alper

Bayrak

Yilmaz

(2020). Psychological correlates of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures: Evidence from Turkey. Current Psychology, 40(11), 5708–5717. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00903-0

Bieber

(2020). Global nationalism in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationalities Papers, 50(1), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2020.35

Bronstein

M. V.

Pennycook

Bear

Rand

D. G.

Cannon

T. D.

(2019). Belief in fake news is associated with delusionality, dogmatism, religious fundamentalism, and reduced analytic thinking. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 8(1), 108–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2018.09.005

Brotherton

French

Pickering

(2013). Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: The generic conspiracist beliefs scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(4), 279. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279

Brydges

C. R.

Gignac

G. E.

Ecker

U. K. H.

(2018). Working memory capacity, short-term memory capacity, and the continued influence effect: A latent-variable analysis. Intelligence, 69(1), 117–122. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2018.03.009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell2018.03.009

Bullock

J. G.

Gerber

A. S.

Hill

S. J.

Huber

G. A.

(2015). Partisan bias in factual beliefs about politics. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 10(4), 519–578. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.0001407

Crossley

(2020). China government spokesman says U.S. military may have bought virus to China. Reuters, 13, 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-ministry-idUSKBN20Z2HJ

Cuevas

J. A.

Dawson

B. L.

(2021). An integrated review of recent research on the relationships between religious belief, political ideology, authoritarianism, and prejudice. Psychological Reports, 124(3), 977-1014. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294120925392.

10.

Dagnall

Drinkwater

Parker

Denovan

Parton

(2015). Conspiracy theory and cognitive style: A worldview. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 206. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00206.

11.

Darwin

Neave

Holmes

(2011). Belief in conspiracy theories. The role of paranormal belief, paranoid ideation and schizotypy. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(8), 1289–1293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.02.027

12.

DeFranza

Lindow

Harrison

Mishra

(2020). Religion and reactance to COVID-19 mitigation guidelines. American Psychologist. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000717

13.

De Keersmaeker

Roets

(2017). “Fake news”: Incorrect, but hard to correct. The role of cognitive ability on the impact of false information on social impressions. Intelligence, 65(1), 107–110. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2017.10.005

14.

Douglas

K. M.

Sutton

R. M.

Cichocka

(2017). The psychology of conspiracy theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538-542. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417718261.

15.

Druckman

(1994). Nationalism, patriotism, and group loyalty: A social psychological perspective. Mershon International Studies Review, 38(1), 43–68. https://doi.org/10.2307/222610

16.

Enders

A. M.

Smallpage

S. M.

(2019). Who are conspiracy theorists? A comprehensive approach to explaining conspiracy beliefs. Social Science Quarterly, 100(6), 2017–2032. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12711

17.

Enders

A. M.

Smallpage

S. M.

Lupton

R. N.

(2020). Are all “birthers” conspiracy theorists? On the relationship between conspiratorial thinking and political orientations. British Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 849–866. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123417000837

18.

Feldman

Johnston

(2014). Understanding the determinants of political ideology: Implications of structural complexity. Political Psychology, 35(3), 337–358. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12055

19.

Fox

J. E.

Miller-Idriss

(2008). Everyday nationhood. Ethnicities, 8(4), 536–563. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796808088925

20.

Gertz

(2021). Pompeo: Reckless Chinese virus labs threaten the world. Washington Times. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/feb/23/pompeo-reckless-chinese-virus-labs-threaten-world/)

21.

Goertzel

(1994). Belief in conspiracy theories. Political Psychology, 15(4), 731–742. https://doi.org/10.2307/3791630

22.

Gries

P. H.

Zhang

Crowson

H. M.

Cai

(2011). Patriotism, nationalism and China’s US policy: Structures and consequences of Chinese national identity. China Quarterly, 205(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305741010001360

23.

Hall

D. L.

Matz

D. C.

Wood

(2010). Why don’t we practice what we preach? A meta-analytic review of religious racism. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(1), 126-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309352179.

24.

Hinkle

Brown

(1990). Intergroup comparisons and social identity: Some links and lacunae. In Abrams

Hogg

M. A.

(eds), Social identity theory: Constructive and critical advances (pp. 48–70). Harvester Wheatsheaf.

25.

Hirsh

J. B.

Walberg

M. D.

Peterson

J. B.

(2013). Spiritual liberals and religious conservatives. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(1), 14–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1948550612444138

26.

Hogg

M. A.

(2000). Subjective uncertainty reduction through self-categorization: A motivational theory of social identity processes. European Review of Social Psychology, 11(1), 223–255. http://doi.org/10.1080/14792772043000040

27.

Hutchinson

(2017). Nationalism and war. Oxford University Press.

28.

Iacoviello

Berent

Frederic

N. S.

Pereira

(2017). The impact of ingroup favoritism on self-esteem: A normative perspective. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 71(3), 31–41. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.12.013

29.

Imhoff

Bruder

(2014). Speaking (un-)truth to power: Conspiracy mentality as a generalized political attitude. European Journal of Personality, 28(1), 25–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1930

30.

Jost

J. T.

(2006). The end of the end of ideology. American Psychologist, 61(7), 651-670. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.7.651.

31.

Jost

J. T.

Nosek

B. A.

Gosling

S. D.

(2008). Ideology: Its resurgence in social, personality, and political psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(2), 126-136. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00070.x.

32.

Kleinpenning

Hagendoorn

(1993). Forms of racism and the cumulative dimension of ethnic attitudes. Social Psychology Quarterly, 56(1), 21–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/2786643

33.

Kosterman

Feshbach

(1989). Toward a measure of patriotic and nationalistic attitudes. Political Psychology, 10(2), 257–274. https://doi.org/10.2307/3791647

34.

Mason

Wronski

(2018). One tribe to bind them all: How our social group attachments strengthen partisanship. Advances in Political Psychology, 39(S1), 257–277. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12485

35.

McCright

A. M.

Dunlap

R. E.

(2011). The politicization of climate change and polarization in the American public’s views of global warming, 2001–2010. Sociological Quarterly, 52(2), 155–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2011.01198.x

36.

Mummendey

Klink

Brown

(2001). Nationalism and patriotism: National identification and out-group rejection. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40(1), 159–172. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466601164740

37.

Nincic

Ramos

J. M.

(2012). The sources of patriotism: Survey and experimental evidence. Foreign Policy Analysis, 8(4), 373–388. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-8594.2011.00175.x

38.

Oleksy

Wnuk

Maison

Łyś

(2021). Content matters. Different predictors and social consequences of general and government-related conspiracy theories on COVID-19. Personality and Individual Differences, 168(3), 110289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110289

39.

Pan

(2018). China’s ideological spectrum. Journal of Politics, 80(1), 254–273. https://doi.org/10.1086/694255

40.

Pasek

Stark

T. H.

Krosnick

J. A.

Tompson

(2015). What motivates a conspiracy theory? Birther beliefs, partisanship, liberal-conservative ideology, and anti-Black attitudes. Electoral Studies, 40, 482-489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2014.09.009.

41.

Pennycook

Rand

D. G.

(2020). Who falls for fake news? The roles of bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, familiarity, and analytic thinking. Journal of Personality, 88(2), 185-200. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12476.

42.

Pennycook

Ross

R. M.

Koehler

D. J.

Fugelsang

J. A.

(2017). Dunning-Kruger effects in reasoning: Theoretical implications of the failure to recognize incompetence. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(6), 1774-1784. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1242-7.

43.

Pew Research Center (2020). Nearly three-in-ten Americans believe COVID-19 was made in a lab. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/08/nearly-three-in-ten-americans-believe-covid-19-was-made-in-a-lab/

44.

Rachman

(2020). Nationalism is a side effect of the coronavirus. Financial Times. https://www.ft.co/onten/44fd920-6cea-11ea-9bca-bf503995cd6f

45.

Rieger

Frischlich

Bente

(2017). Propaganda in an insecure unstructured world: How psychological uncertainty and authoritarian attitudes shape the evaluation of right-wing extremist Internet propaganda. Journal for Deradicalization, 10, 203-229.

46.

Romano

Balliet

Yamagishi

Liu

J. H.

(2017). Parochial trust and cooperation across 17 societies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(48), 12702-12707. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712921114.

47.

Sinkkonen

(2013). Nationalism, patriotism and foreign policy attitudes among Chinese university students. China Quarterly, 216(10), 1045–1063. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741013001094

48.

Swami

(2012). Social psychological origins of conspiracy theories: The case of the Jewish conspiracy theory in Malaysia. Frontiers in Psychology, 168(3). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00280

49.

Swami

Coles

Stieger

Pietschnig

Furnham

Rehim

Voracek

(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. British Journal of Psychology, 102(3), 443–463. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.2010.02004.x

50.

Swami

Pietschnig

Tran

U. S.

Nader

I. W.

Stieger

Voracek

(2013). Lunar lies: The impact of informational framing and individual differences in shaping conspiracist beliefs about the moon landings. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 27(1), 71–80. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2873

51.

Tajfel

(1974). Social identity and intergroup behavior. Social Science Information, 13(2), 65–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847401300204

52.

Tajfel

Billig

M. G.

Bundy

R. P.

Flament

(1971). Social categorization and intergroup behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1(2), 149–178. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420010202

53.

Tajfel

Turner

J. C.

(1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In Austin

W. G.

Worchel

(eds), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations (pp. 33–48). Brooks-Cole.

54.

Tisdall

(2020). Power, equality, nationalism: How the pandemic will reshape the world The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/28/power-equality-nationalism-how-thepandemic-will-reshape-the-world

55.

Turner

J. C.

Hogg

M. A.

Oakes

P. J.

Reicher

S. D.

Wetherell

M. S.

(1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Basil Blackwell.

56.

van Prooijen

J. W.

Douglas

K. M.

(2018). Belief in conspiracy theories: Basic principles of an emerging research domain. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(7), 897-908. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2530.

57.

Westcott

Jiang

(2020). Chinese diplomat promotes conspiracy theory that US military brought coronavirus to Wuhan. CNN, March, 14, 2020. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/13/asia/china-coronavirus-us-lijian-zhao-intl-hnk/index.html

58.

WHO (World Health Organization) (2021). WHO-convened global study of the origins of SARS-CoV-2. https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus/origins-of-the-virus

59.

Wood

M. J.

Douglas

K. M.

(2013). “What about building 7?” A social psychological study of online discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(1), 409. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00409.

60.

Wood

M. J.

Douglas

K. M.

Sutton

R. M.

(2012). Dead and alive: Beliefs in contradictory conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(6), 767–773. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550611434786

61.

Woods

E. T.

Schertzer

Greenfeld

Hughes

Miller-Idriss

(2020). COVID-19, nationalism, and the politics of crisis: A scholarly exchange. Nations and Nationalism, 26(4), 807-825. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12644.

62.

Zhai

(2017). Values of deference to authority in Japan and China. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 58(2), 120-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715217694078.

63.

Zhai

(2020). Popular perceptions of democracy in China: Characteristics and longitudinal changes. Asian Survey, 60(3), 557–582. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2020.60.3.557

64.

Zhai

(2022). Values change and support for democracy in East Asia. Social Indicators Research, 160(1), 179-198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02807-3.

65.

Zhai

Chong

L. Y.

Liu

Yang

Song

(2022). Social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and political attitudes toward governmental performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12296.