Why existential threats increase conspiracy beliefs: Evidence for the mediating roles of agency detection and pattern perception.
This research investigates the cognitive mechanisms linking health‐related existential threats to conspiracy beliefs within a Chinese context. Study 1 (N = 199) demonstrated that the relationship between perceived existential threats and outgroup conspiracy beliefs is mediated by hypersensitive agen...
| Publicado en: | British Journal of Psychology Vol. 117; no. 1; pp. 130 - 155 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Feb2026
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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=190788916&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 190788916 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: Feb2026 vid: 117 iid: 1 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 190788916 10.1111/bjop.70016 ppf: 130 ppct: 25 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: C – @attributes: type: P size: 614KB tig: atl: Why existential threats increase conspiracy beliefs: Evidence for the mediating roles of agency detection and pattern perception. aug: au: Mao, Jia‐Yan Zeng, Zhao‐Xie Yang, Shen‐Long Guo, Yong‐Yu Wang, Bo van Prooijen, Jan‐Willem affil: Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China Institute of Social Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China The Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands su: China Japan Waste management Health status indicators Social perception Attitude (Psychology) Psychology Social attitudes Psychological stress Nuclear reactors Infectious disease transmission Statistical correlation Statistical power analysis Research funding Conceptual models T-test (Statistics) Meta-analysis Structural equation modeling Descriptive statistics Monkeypox Research Risk perception Theory Factor analysis Confidence intervals Regression analysis sug: subj: Waste management Health status indicators Social perception Attitude (Psychology) Psychology Social attitudes Psychological stress Nuclear reactors Infectious disease transmission China Japan Power Boiler and Heat Exchanger Manufacturing Solid Waste Landfill Waste treatment and disposal Other Waste Collection Waste collection Statistical correlation Statistical power analysis Research funding Conceptual models T-test (Statistics) Meta-analysis Structural equation modeling Descriptive statistics Monkeypox Research Risk perception Theory Factor analysis Confidence intervals Regression analysis keyword: crisis existential threat hypersensitive agency detection illusory pattern perception outgroup conspiracy theories crisis existential threat hypersensitive agency detection illusory pattern perception outgroup conspiracy theories ab: This research investigates the cognitive mechanisms linking health‐related existential threats to conspiracy beliefs within a Chinese context. Study 1 (N = 199) demonstrated that the relationship between perceived existential threats and outgroup conspiracy beliefs is mediated by hypersensitive agency detection through an experimental manipulation involving a monkeypox virus threat. Studies 2a (N = 198) and 2b (N = 200) revealed that illusory pattern perception also mediates this relationship. In Study 3 (N = 278, using a manipulation of threatening information about genetically modified foods) and in Study 4 (N = 296, using information about Japan's discharge of nuclear sewage), both hypersensitive agency detection and illusory pattern perception mediated this relationship. Additional mini‐meta‐analyses further corroborated these findings. We conclude that the effects of existential threats on outgroup conspiracy beliefs are mediated by hypersensitive agency detection and illusory pattern perception. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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