Belief in conspiracy theories is a hallmark of the two political extremes, the far left and even more so of the far right, than people moving to the center of the political spectrum, according to a new major scientific study, which analyzed data on more than 100,000 people in 26 countries, including Greece.
Conspiracy theories have been around for centuries in almost all cultures and flourish in times of great upheaval or serious events, such as pandemics (e.g., the current Covid-19), major terrorist attacks, elections, and more. Social media in our time has greatly facilitated their spread.
Click here to read the scientific publication
Researchers led by Roland Imhoff, Professor of Social Psychology at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, who published the journal Human Human Behavior, He believes that hidden, dark and malicious forces are conspiring against the people and the common people, with the ultimate goal of either promoting their interests or some occult “agenda”.
The findings revealed, according to the researchers, that of those who responded to the survey, “those at the far end of the political spectrum expressed stronger beliefs that the world is ruled by secret forces operating in the dark.” As they point out, “the left and the far right share a worldview centered on Manichaean demonization”, which has the effect of considering “hostile” groups of people immoral and dangerous.
Conspiracy theories similarly present the “enemies” as representatives of Evil, seeing history as a battle between the forces of Good and Evil trying to control societies. Disagreement is often not tolerated by either the far right or the far left, and both of these extreme positions tend to believe in simplistic solutions related to conspiracy theories.
In the countries of northern and central Europe (Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Sweden) the supporters of the far right have a stronger tendency in conspiracy theories, while in Southern Europe (eg Spain) and in the Balkans (e.g. .x. Romania) those of the far left.
In general, according to the study, conspiracy theories are more widely accepted by people who support non-government opposition parties, which is more pronounced in the case of people on the far right of the political spectrum, who support traditional, nationalist and authoritarian political parties.
“We have seen a greater tendency for those who vote for opposition parties to adopt a conspiratorial mentality because they feel deprived of their personal influence and consider it to have little social impact,” Imhoff said.
Also, conspiracy theories are more common, regardless of political beliefs, in people of lower educational level. Moreover, if one has a conspiracy theory, this is an indication that one will acquire another in the process, thus creating a whole web of such views that are often mutually reinforcing.
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