Conspiracy Thinking in Times of Crisis: Conspiracy mentality, beliefs and prevention behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

This master thesis aims to contribute to the existing research body on the mechanisms concerning the adherence to prevention measures and conspiracy thinking. COVID-19 in the Netherlands was used as a case study and data was gathered via an online survey. The study looked at COVID-19 conspiracy thinkers in the Netherlands, their individual COVID-19 beliefs, level of conspiracy mentality, and their adherence level to normative (government- recommended) prevention measures. Adherence to COVID-19 specific conspiracy beliefs was generally low in the study population, however there was a large variation of adherence in the sample. The adherence to a conspiracy mentality in the Netherlands could be considered generally low. The participants self-reported adhering to the normative prevention measures across the board as ‘most of the time’. Participants believing in COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were less likely to adhere to normative prevention measures. A similarly strong relationship was...Show moreThis master thesis aims to contribute to the existing research body on the mechanisms concerning the adherence to prevention measures and conspiracy thinking. COVID-19 in the Netherlands was used as a case study and data was gathered via an online survey. The study looked at COVID-19 conspiracy thinkers in the Netherlands, their individual COVID-19 beliefs, level of conspiracy mentality, and their adherence level to normative (government- recommended) prevention measures. Adherence to COVID-19 specific conspiracy beliefs was generally low in the study population, however there was a large variation of adherence in the sample. The adherence to a conspiracy mentality in the Netherlands could be considered generally low. The participants self-reported adhering to the normative prevention measures across the board as ‘most of the time’. Participants believing in COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were less likely to adhere to normative prevention measures. A similarly strong relationship was found between the adherence to normative prevention measures and having a conspiracy mentality. Risk perception was found to play a significant role in these relationships. All three aspects of risk perception had a positive impact individually. When considering all aspects together however it was found that personal risk perception and perceived risk of contamination of the general population were the only two aspects of risk perception that still had a positive influence on adherence levels, whilst perceived risk of death simply did not.Show less

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Conspiracy Thinking in Times of Crisis: Conspiracy mentality, beliefs and prevention behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic