scholarly journals Mistrust and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories Differently Mediate the Effects of Psychological Factors on Propensity for COVID-19 Vaccine

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Simione ◽  
Monia Vagni ◽  
Camilla Gnagnarella ◽  
Giuseppe Bersani ◽  
Daniela Pajardi
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Psychological Variables ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs

Vaccination is considered a key factor in the sanitary resolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine hesitancy can undermine its diffusion with severe consequences on global health. While beliefs in conspiracy theories, mistrust in science and in policymakers, and mistrust in official information channels may also increment vaccine hesitancy, understanding their psychological causes could improve our capacity to respond to the pandemic. Thus, we designed a cross-sectional study with the aim of probing vaccine propensity in the Italian population and explored its relationship with sociodemographic and psychological variables, and with misbeliefs in COVID-19. A battery of questionnaires was administered to a sample of 374 Italian adults during the first national lockdown (April 2020). The materials included an original instrument—Beliefs in COVID-19 Inventory—and questionnaires measuring perceived stress, anxiety, death anxiety, psychological distress, psychoticism, paranoia, anger, and somatization. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on Beliefs in COVID-19 suggested the existence of three factors: belief in conspiracy theories, mistrust in medical information, and mistrust in medicine and science. These factors were positively correlated with female sex, age, religious beliefs, psychiatric conditions, and psychological variables, while negatively correlated with education levels. We conducted a mediation analysis by means of a structural equation model, including psychological factors as predictors, beliefs in COVID-19 scales as mediators, and vaccine propensity as an outcome. The model showed that death anxiety had a direct positive effect on the propensity to get vaccinated. It also showed that death anxiety reduced the propensity to get vaccinated through a mediated path in believing in conspiracy theories, whereas paranoia was linked to a reduction in vaccination adherence with the mediation effect of mistrust in medical science. Psychological distress reduced vaccination propensity by increasing both conspiracy beliefs and mistrust. On the other hand, anxiety increased the propensity to get vaccinated through a decrease in both belief in conspiracy theories and mistrust in science. Our results suggest that psychological dimensions are differentially related to belief in conspiracy theories, to mistrust in science, and to the propensity to get vaccinated. Based on this result, we propose an original interpretation of how conspiracy beliefs build on a paranoid and suspicious attitude. We also discuss the possible clinical implications of treatment for such pathological beliefs.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Scientific Facts Vs. Conspiracy Theories: 0 – 1: Science Fails to Convince Even Highly Educated Individuals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marios Constantinou ◽  
Anthony Kagialis ◽  
Maria Karekla
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Conspiracy Theory ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
Scientific Facts

Abstract Science may be failing to convince a significant number of people about COVID-19 scientific facts and needed public health measures. Individual and social factors are behind believing conspiracy theories. Adults (N = 1001) were asked to rate their beliefs in various conspiracy theories circulating in social media, rate their psychological distress relating to COVID-19, rate their trust in science to solve COVID-19 problems, and rate their willingness to adhere to measures regarding social distancing and quarantine. The findings showed conspiracy theories are widely believed even among highly educated individuals. Stronger conspiracy theory beliefs predicted science mistrust and unwillingness to adhere to public health measures. Psychological distress increased conspiracy beliefs. Recommendations, stemming from the findings, for reducing such beliefs and better serve public health are discussed.

»Sometimes you just have to go in « – The link between conspiracy beliefs and political action

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Lamberty ◽  
David Leiser
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
Violent Action ◽  
One Year

Even though conspiracy theories often address political issues, the question of how conspiracy beliefs affect people's political action has not been satisfyingly answered. We show how conspiracy beliefs are linked to political action. Study 1 (N = 203) shows that conspiracy beliefs were linked to violence. Study 2 (N = 268) supported the notion that conspiracy beliefs were linked to weaker support for normative actions and stronger support of violent action. In Study 3 (N = 180), we explored experimentally whether conspiracy beliefs increase violent action. The longitudinal Study 4 (N T1 = 523, N T2 = 274, N T3 = 199) showed over a timespan of one year that conspiracy beliefs increased non-normative political action.

scholarly journals Teaching during the Pandemic: A Comparison in Psychological Wellbeing among Smart Working Professions

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4850
Author(s):  
Emanuela Mari ◽  
Giulia Lausi ◽  
Angelo Fraschetti ◽  
Alessandra Pizzo ◽  
Michela Baldi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Psychological Variables ◽  
Group Methods ◽  
Random Probability ◽  
Smart Working ◽  
Restrictive Measures

Background: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, since March 2020, the Italian population was forced into lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus. The restrictive measures imposed forced many organizations and workers to work through online platforms and no longer in-person. Smart working, enjoyed by some workers for its flexibility, affected several professional categories. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are differences in the psychological variables related to four groups of professional categories (practitioners, managers, executive employees, teachers), particularly the teachers group. Methods: A total sample of 628 individuals was recruited through a random probability sample across Italy. Due to the lockdown, an online questionnaire was developed; several validated scales were chosen, and some ad hoc constructed items related to the smart working experience were included. Results: The results showed statistically significant differences between the four groups of examined smart workers. Conclusions: All workers have had to readjust to this new way of working, but our results show that teachers were the most affected, both in the perception of their psychological well-being and in the management of the smart working mode.

scholarly journals Faster than warp speed: early attention to COVD-19 by anti-vaccine groups on Facebook

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth C Kalichman ◽  
Lisa A Eaton ◽  
Valerie A Earnshaw ◽  
Natalie Brousseau
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Vaccine Information

Abstract Background The unprecedented rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines has faced SARS-CoV- (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy, which is partially fueled by the misinformation and conspiracy theories propagated by anti-vaccine groups on social media. Research is needed to better understand the early COVID-19 anti-vaccine activities on social media. Methods This study chronicles the social media posts concerning COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines by leading anti-vaccine groups (Dr Tenpenny on Vaccines, the National Vaccine Information Center [NVIC] the Vaccination Information Network [VINE]) and Vaccine Machine in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic (February–May 2020). Results Analysis of 2060 Facebook posts showed that anti-vaccine groups were discussing COVID-19 in the first week of February 2020 and were specifically discussing COVID-19 vaccines by mid-February 2020. COVID-19 posts by NVIC were more widely disseminated and showed greater influence than non-COVID-19 posts. Early COVID-19 posts concerned mistrust of vaccine safety and conspiracy theories. Conclusion Major anti-vaccine groups were sowing seeds of doubt on Facebook weeks before the US government launched its vaccine development program ‘Operation Warp Speed’. Early anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns outpaced public health messaging and hampered the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

scholarly journals Psychological factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Şerif Bora Nazlı ◽  
Fatih Yığman ◽  
Muhammet Sevindik ◽  
Deniz Deniz Özturan
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Factors Affecting

‘Things are not what they seem to be’: A proposal for the spectrum approach to conspiracy beliefs

2021 ◽  
pp. 103985622110081
Author(s):  
Vladan Starcevic ◽  
Vlasios Brakoulias
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Persecutory Delusions ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Community Or ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs

Objective: Conspiracy beliefs (also known as conspiracy theories) become more prominent at times of heightened uncertainty and inconsistent or conflicting explanations provided by the authorities for events like terrorist attacks or pandemics, such as COVID-19. This article aims to examine the relevance of conspiracy beliefs for psychiatry in the context of the dynamics of trust and mistrust. Conclusions: Conspiracy beliefs may be situated on a spectrum of mistrust-related phenomena, which extends from healthy scepticism to persecutory delusions. They can be conceptualised as unfounded and fixed beliefs held with strong conviction about harm inflicted by powerful groups on the community or another group of people, usually with preserved insight that these beliefs differ from those that most people have and with reasons for having such beliefs not necessarily being implausible. It is important for conspiracy beliefs to be distinguished from persecutory delusions.

scholarly journals The dangers of blind trust: Examining the interplay among social media news use, misinformation identification, and news trust on conspiracy beliefs

2021 ◽  
pp. 096366252199802
Author(s):  
Xizhu Xiao ◽  
Porismita Borah ◽  
Yan Su
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
Moderation Model ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Significant Moderator ◽  
News Use

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation has been circulating on social media and multiple conspiracy theories have since become quite popular. We conducted a U.S. national survey for three main purposes. First, we aim to examine the association between social media news consumption and conspiracy beliefs specific to COVID-19 and general conspiracy beliefs. Second, we investigate the influence of an important moderator, social media news trust, that has been overlooked in prior studies. Third, we further propose a moderated moderation model by including misinformation identification. Our findings show that social media news use was associated with higher conspiracy beliefs, and trust in social media news was found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between social media news use and conspiracy beliefs. Moreover, our findings show that misinformation identification moderated the relationship between social media news use and trust. Implications are discussed.

Are misinformation, antiscientific claims, and conspiracy theories for political extremists?

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-605
Author(s):  
Adam M. Enders ◽  
Joseph E. Uscinski
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Groups ◽  
Representative Samples

Extremist political groups, especially “extreme” Republicans and conservatives, are increasingly charged with believing misinformation, antiscientific claims, and conspiracy theories to a greater extent than moderates and those on the political left by both a burgeoning scholarly literature and popular press accounts. However, previous investigations of the relationship between political orientations and alternative beliefs have been limited in their operationalization of those beliefs and political extremity. We build on existing literature by examining the relationships between partisan and nonpartisan conspiracy beliefs and symbolic and operational forms of political extremity. Using two large, nationally representative samples of Americans, we find that ideological extremity predicts alternative beliefs only when the beliefs in question are partisan in nature and the measure of ideology is identity-based. Moreover, we find that operational ideological extremism is negatively related to nonpartisan conspiracy beliefs. Our findings help reconcile discrepant findings regarding the relationship between political orientations and conspiracy beliefs.

Surgical intensive care unit (ICU) delirium: A “psychosomatic” problem?

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Reich ◽  
Regis Rohn ◽  
Daniele Lefevre
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Cognitive Disorders ◽  
Major Surgery ◽  
Surgical Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Surgical Intensive Care ◽  
Icu Delirium

AbstractObjective:Intensive Care Unit (ICU) delirium is a common complication after major surgery and related among other potential medical precipitants to either pre-existing cognitive impairment or the intensity and length of anesthesiology or the type of surgery. Nevertheless, in some rare situations, an organic etiology is not always found, which can be frustrating for the medical team. Some clinicians working in an intensive care unit have a reluctance to seek another hypothesis in the psychological field.Method:To illustrate this, we report the case of a 59-year-old woman who developed a massive delirium during her intensive care unit stay after being operated on for a left retroperitoneal sarcoma. Interestingly, she had had no previous cognitive disorders and a somatic explanation for her psychiatric disorder could not been found. Just before the surgery, she was grieving the recent loss of a colleague of the same age, and also a close friend, and therefore had a death anxiety.Results:With this case report, we would like to point out the importance of psychological factors that might precipitate delirium in a predominately somatic environment such as an intensive care unit.Significance of results:ICU delirium can sometimes be considered as a “psychosomatic” problem with either a stress response syndrome after surgery or a defense mechanism against death anxiety. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of such psychological factors even if they always must first rule out potential somatic causes for delirium and encourage thorough investigation and treatment of these medical causes. A collaboration with the psycho-oncologist is recommended to better manage this “psychosomatic” problem.

scholarly journals Low COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Is Correlated with Conspiracy Beliefs among University Students in Jordan

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2407
Author(s):  
Malik Sallam ◽  
Deema Dababseh ◽  
Huda Eid ◽  
Hanan Hasan ◽  
Duaa Taim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Vaccine Acceptance ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
A Chain

Vaccination to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged as a promising measure to overcome the negative consequences of the pandemic. Since university students could be considered a knowledgeable group, this study aimed to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among this group in Jordan. Additionally, we aimed to examine the association between vaccine conspiracy beliefs and vaccine hesitancy. We used an online survey conducted in January 2021 with a chain-referral sampling approach. Conspiracy beliefs were evaluated using the validated Vaccine Conspiracy Belief Scale (VCBS), with higher scores implying embrace of conspiracies. A total of 1106 respondents completed the survey with female predominance (n = 802, 72.5%). The intention to get COVID-19 vaccines was low: 34.9% (yes) compared to 39.6% (no) and 25.5% (maybe). Higher rates of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance were seen among males (42.1%) and students at Health Schools (43.5%). A Low rate of influenza vaccine acceptance was seen as well (28.8%), in addition to 18.6% of respondents being anti-vaccination altogether. A significantly higher VCBS score was correlated with reluctance to get the vaccine (p < 0.001). Dependence on social media platforms was significantly associated with lower intention to get COVID-19 vaccines (19.8%) compared to dependence on medical doctors, scientists, and scientific journals (47.2%, p < 0.001). The results of this study showed the high prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its association with conspiracy beliefs among university students in Jordan. The implementation of targeted actions to increase the awareness of such a group is highly recommended. This includes educational programs to dismantle vaccine conspiracy beliefs and awareness campaigns to build recognition of the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.

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