Abstract

REZENDE, Alessandro Teixeira; GOUVEIA, Valdiney Veloso; SOARES, Ana Karla Silva  and  MOIZEIS, Heloísa Bárbara Cunha. Beliefs in conspiracy theories in university students: An explanation based on personality traits. Psicol. Conoc. Soc. [online]. 2021, vol.11, n.2, pp.84-98.  Epub Aug 01, 2021. ISSN 1688-7026.  https://doi.org/10.26864/pcs.v11.n2.6.

The present study sought to investigate the relationship between personality traits and beliefs in conspiracy theories. For this purpose, we counted with the participation of 205 university students (Mage= 21.7; 56.6% female), who answered the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (GCBS), the Five Factor model (FFM) and demographic questions. The results indicated that such beliefs are associated, mainly with the traits of conscientiousness and openness to change. It was concluded that personality traits can be an important variable to explain the endorsement of beliefs in conspiracy theories, especially for those individuals who feel cognitively threatened and seek to create alternative explanations in order to reduce the feeling of instability and disorganization. In this view, conspiracy theories would help individuals make sense of world beyond their control, offering seemingly coherent explanations for complex social events.

Keywords : Beliefs; theories; conspiracy; personality traits.

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