The entertainment value of conspiracy theories.
Many citizens around the globe believe conspiracy theories. Why are conspiracy theories so appealing? Here, we propose that conspiracy theories elicit intense emotions independent of emotional valence. People therefore find conspiracy theories entertaining – that is, narratives that people perceive...
| Publicado en: | British Journal of Psychology Vol. 113; no. 1; pp. 25 - 49 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Feb2022
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=154758125&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 154758125 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00071269 BJP jtl: British Journal of Psychology issn: 00071269 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Feb2022 vid: 113 iid: 1 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 154758125 10.1111/bjop.12522 ppf: 25 ppct: 24 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: C – @attributes: type: P size: 309KB tig: atl: The entertainment value of conspiracy theories. aug: au: van Prooijen, Jan‐Willem Ligthart, Joline Rosema, Sabine Xu, Yang affil: VU Amsterdam,, The Netherlands The Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands su: United Kingdom Mass media Labeling theory Internet Emotions sug: subj: Mass media Labeling theory Internet Emotions United Kingdom Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals Wired Telecommunications Carriers keyword: conspiracy theories emotional intensity emotions entertainment sensation seeking conspiracy theories emotional intensity emotions entertainment sensation seeking ab: Many citizens around the globe believe conspiracy theories. Why are conspiracy theories so appealing? Here, we propose that conspiracy theories elicit intense emotions independent of emotional valence. People therefore find conspiracy theories entertaining – that is, narratives that people perceive as interesting, exciting, and attention‐grabbing – and such entertainment appraisals are positively associated with belief in them. Five studies supported these ideas. Participants were exposed to either a conspiratorial or a non‐conspiratorial text about the Notre Dame fire (Study 1) or the death of Jeffrey Epstein (preregistered Study 2). The conspiratorial text elicited stronger entertainment appraisals and intense emotions (independent of emotional valence) than the non‐conspiratorial text; moreover, entertainment appraisals mediated the effects of the manipulation on conspiracy beliefs. Study 3 indicated that participants endorsed stronger conspiracy beliefs when an election event was described in an entertaining rather than a boring manner. Subsequent findings revealed that both organisational (Study 4) and societal conspiracy beliefs (Study 5) are positively associated with sensation seeking – a trait characterised by a preference for exciting and intense experiences. We conclude that one reason why people believe conspiracy theories is because they find them entertaining. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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