Master thesis | Crisis and Security Management (MSc)
open access
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...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
There is evidence stating that both conspiracy believers and political extremists seek information according to their beliefs and ignore contradictory statements. This paper aimed to investigate...Show moreThere is evidence stating that both conspiracy believers and political extremists seek information according to their beliefs and ignore contradictory statements. This paper aimed to investigate whether such similarities in information seeking behavior also exists when people are confronted with neutral, not politically loaded information. To examine the issue, an online study including 206 participants was performed in the UK. Information sampling behavior when confronted with neutral, politically unloaded information was tested in an adapted Information Sampling Task. Additionally, the study entailed a survey to examine the variables conspiracy mentality (CM), specific conspiracy beliefs (SCB) and political orientation (PO). Most importantly, it was found that PO is a significant predictor of engaging in CM and SCB. Additionally, politically right oriented people compared to politically left oriented people were more likely to engage in CM and SCB. Nevertheless, no significance was discovered when examining whether an information sampling pattern could be found in conspiracy believers or political extremists when confronted with neutral, politically unloaded information. Overall, this research supports the already existing findings about the relationship between conspiracy theories and political ideology, and urges future research to investigate potential underlying patterns that could lead to believing in conspiracy beliefs and having extreme political ideologies.Show less
