Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Effect of High-Anxiety Situations on Conspiracy Thinking

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of the present studies was to examine a possible relationship between anxiety and conspiracy thinking about ethnic and national groups. Two hundred university student volunteers participated in 3 studies. Study One (N = 87; mixed male and female sample) found that state-anxiety and trait-anxiety, measured with the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), were positively correlated with conspiracy thinking about Jewish people, Germans and Arabs. Study Two (N = 46; male sample) and Study Three (N = 67; female sample) were designed to check whether a high-anxiety situation (connected with waiting for an examination) would increase conspiracy thinking. Findings from Studies Two and Three showed that the pre-exam (high-anxiety) situation increased conspiracy thinking about Jewish people. This effect was not mediated by state-anxiety. Hence, further research should focus on searching for possible mediators of the relationship between a pre-exam situation and conspiracy thinking. The obtained results are consistent with previous findings showing that conspiracy thinking about Jewish people is sensitive to situational factors and with findings on links between anxiety and processing information about threat-related stimuli.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abalakina-Paap, M., Stephan, W. G., Craig, T., & Gregory, W. L. (1999). Beliefs in conspiracy. Political Psychology, 20, 637–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bale, J. M. (2007). Political paranoia vs. political realism: on distinguishing between bogus conspiracy theories and genuine conspiratorial politics. Patterns of Prejudice, 41, 45–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergmann, W. (2008). Anti-Semitic attitudes in Europe: a comparative perspective. Journal of Social Issues, 64, 343–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilewicz, M. (2007). History as an obstacle: impact of temporal-based social categorizations on Polish-Jewish intergroup contact. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 10, 551–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M. (1987). Anti-Semitic themes and the British far left: Some social-psychological observations on indirect aspects of the conspiracy tradition. In C. F. Graumann & S. Moscovici (Eds.), Changing conceptions of conspiracy (pp. 115–136). NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, S. T., & Bogart, L. M. (2005). Conspiracy beliefs about HIV/AIDS and birth control among African Americans: implications for the prevention of HIV, other STIs, and unintended pregnancy. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 109–126.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, S., Duncan, J., Brett, M., & Lawrence, A. D. (2004). Prefrontal cortical function and anxiety: controlling attention to threat-related stimuli. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 184–188.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, S. J., Jenkins, R., & Lawrence, A. D. (2006). Neural processing of fearful faces: effects on anxiety are gated by perceptual capacity limitations. Cerebral Cortex, 17, 1595–1603.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bogart, L. M., & Thorburn, S. (2006). Relationship of African Americans’ sociodemographic characteristics to belief in conspiracies about HIV/AIDS and birth control. Journal of the National Medical Association, 98, 1144–1150.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonanno, G. A., & Jost, J. T. (2006). Conservative shift among high-exposure survivors of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 28, 311–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byford, J. (2003). Anti-Semitism and the Christian Right in post-Milošević Serbia: from conspiracy theory to hate crime. Internet Journal of Criminology, 1, 1–27. Retrieved August 11, 2009, from http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/ijcarticles.html.

  • Byford, J. (2006). ‘Serbs never hated the Jews’: the denial of antisemitism in Serbian Orthodox Christian culture. Patterns of Prejudices, 40, 159–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byford, J., & Billig, M. (2001). The emergence of antisemitic conspiracy theories in Yugoslavia during the war with NATO. Patterns of Prejudices, 35, 50–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cisler, J. M., Bacon, A. K., & Williams, N. L. (2009). Phenomenological characteristics of attentional biases towards threat: a critical review. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 33, 221–234.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A., Mayben, J. K., Hartman, C., Kallen, M. A., & Giordano, T. P. (2008). Conspiracy beliefs about HIV infection are common but not associated with delayed diagnosis or adherence to care. AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 22, 753–759.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, F., Ogilvie, D. M., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2005). American roulette: the effect of reminders of death on support for George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 5, 177–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewhurst, S. A., & Marlborough, M. A. (2003). Memory bias in the recall of pre-exam anxiety: the influence of self-enhancement. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17, 695–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dillinger, J. (2004). Terrorists and witches: popular ideas of evil in the early modern period. History of European Ideas, 30, 167–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M. (2008). The hidden impact of conspiracy theories: perceived and actual influence of theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana. Journal of Social Psychology, 148, 210–221.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Clavo, M. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: attentional control theory. Emotion, 7, 336–353.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fein, S., & Spencer, S. J. (1997). Prejudice as self-image maintenance: affirming the self through derogating others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 31–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenster, M. (2008). Conspiracy theories: Secrecy and power in American culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goertzel, T. (1994). Belief in conspiracy theories. Political Psychology, 15, 733–744.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Burling, J., Simon, L., Solomon, S., Rosenblat, A., et al. (1992). Why do people need self-esteem? converging evidence that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 913–922.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Groh, D. (1987a). The temptation of conspiracy theory, or: Why do bad things happen to good people? part II: Case studies. In C. F. Graumann & S. Moscovici (Eds.), Changing conceptions of conspiracy (pp. 15–37). NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Groh, D. (1987b). The temptation of conspiracy theory or: Why do bad things happen to good people? part I: Preliminary draft of a theory of conspiracy theories. In C. F. Graumann & S. Moscovici (Eds.), Changing conceptions of conspiracy (pp. 1–13). NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Grzesiak-Feldman, M. (2007). Conspiracy thinking and state-trait anxiety in young Polish adults. Psychological Reports, 100, 199–202.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, A. L. (2009). Conspiracy theories in African American Culture: a concept analysis. Journal of Theory Construction and Testing, 13, 16–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horowitz, I. L. (2007). Cuba, Castro and anti-Semitism. Current Psychology, 26, 183–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson, A. B., Begley, E. B., Sullivan, P., Clark, H. A., Boyett, B. C., & Kellerman, S. E. (2007). Conspiracy beliefs and trust in information about HIV/AIDS among minority men who have sex with men. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 45, 603–605.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, C. H., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P. (2005). Types of high self-esteem and prejudice: how implicit self-esteem relate to ethnic discrimination among high explicit self-esteem individuals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 693–702.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sulloway, F. J. (2003). Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 339–375.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Napier, J. L., Thorisdottir, H., Gosling, S. D., Palfai, T. P., & Ostafin, B. (2007). Are needs to manage uncertainty and threat associated with political conservatism or ideological extremity? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 989–1007.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keogh, E., Bond, F. W., French, C. C., Richards, A., & Davis, R. E. (2004). Test anxiety, susceptibility to distraction and examination performance. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 17, 241–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kofta, M. (1995). The stereotype of a group-as-a-whole: the role of diabolic causation schema. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 26, 83–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kofta, M., & Narkiewicz-Jodko, W. (2001). Wartości a bytowość grupy, stereotypy spiskowe, i uprzedzenia [Values, group entitativity, and conspiracy stereotypes as determinants of prejudice]. In D. Doliński & B. Weilg (Eds.), Od myśli i uczuć do decyzji i działań (pp. 59–74). Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Instytutu Psychologii PAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kofta, M., & Sędek, G. (2005). Conspiracy stereotypes of Jews during systemic transformation in Poland. International Journal of Sociology, 35, 40–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krzemiński, I. (1993). Anti-Semitism in today’s Poland. Patterns of Prejudice, 27, 127–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. M., & Robbins, S. B. (1998). The relationship between social connectedness and anxiety, self-esteem, and social identity. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45, 338–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leman, P. (2007). The born conspiracy. New Scientist (1971), 195, 35–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lendvai, P. (1971). Anti-Semitism without Jews: Communist Eastern Europe. NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & Mackintosh, B. (1998). A cognitive model of selective processing in anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 22, 539–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1994). Cognitive approaches to emotion and emotional disorders. Annual Review of Psychology, 45, 25–50.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (2002). Induced processing biases have causal effects on anxiety. Cognition and Emotion, 16, 331–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McHoskey, J. W. (1995). Case closed? on the John F. Kennedy assassination: biased assimilation of evidence and attitude polarization. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17, 395–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metalsky, G. J., Joiner, T. E., Hardin, T. S., & Abramson, L. Y. (1993). Depressive reactions to failure in a naturalistic setting: a test of the hopelessness and self-esteem theories of depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 101–109.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moscovici, S. (1987). The conspiracy mentality. In C. F. Graumann & S. Moscovici (Eds.), Changing conceptions of conspiracy (pp. 151–169). NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Parish, J. (2001). The age of anxiety. In J. Parish & M. Parker (Eds.), The age of anxiety: Conspiracy theory and the human sciences (pp. 1–16). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pipes, D. (1997). Conspiracy: How the paranoid style flourishes and where it comes from. NY: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poliakov, L. (1987). The topic of the Jewish conspiracy in Russia (1905–1920), and the international consequences. In C. F. Graumann & S. Moscovici (Eds.), Changing conceptions of conspiracy (pp. 105–113). NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computer, 36, 717–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinley, H. E., & Glock, C. Y. (1983). Anti-Semitism in America. New Brunswick: Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rovira, T., Fernandez-Castro, J., & Edo, S. (2005). Antecedents and consequences of coping in the anticipatory stage of an exam: a longitudinal study emphasizing the role of affect. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 18, 209–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharp, D. (2008). Advances in conspiracy theory. Lancet, 372, 1371–1372.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simon, R. J., & Schaler, J. A. (2007). Anti-Semitism the world over in the twenty-first century. Current Psychology, 26, 152–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, J. S., Fein, S., Wolfe, C. T., Fong, C., & Dunn, M. A. (1998). Automatic activation of stereotypes: the role of self-image threat. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 1139–1152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., & Lushene, R. E. (1970). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephan, W. G., & Stephan, C. W. (1985). Intergroup anxiety. Journal of Social Issues, 41, 157–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephan, W. G., Stephan, C. W., & Gudykunst, W. B. (1999). Anxiety in intergroup relations: a comparison of anxiety/uncertainty management theory and integrated threat theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 23, 613–628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephan, W. G., Renfro, C. L., Esses, V. M., Stephan, C. W., & Martin, T. (2005). The effects of feeling threatened on attitudes toward immigrants. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stöber, J. (2004). Dimensions of test anxiety: relations to ways of coping with pre-exam anxiety and uncertainty. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 17, 213–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, D., Landau, M. J., & Rothschild, K. (2010). An existential function of enemyship: evidence that people attribute influence to personal and political enemies to compensate for threat to control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 434–449.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Suls, J., & Haig, J. (2002). Global self-esteem in relation to structural models of personality and affectivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 185–197.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wrześniewski, K., Sosnowski, T., & Matusik, D. (2002). Inwentarz Stanu i Cechy Lęku STAI [The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory STAI]. Warszawa: Pracownia Testów Psychologicznych PTP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yiend, J., & Mathews, A. (2001). Anxiety and attention to threatening pictures. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54A, 665–681.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zonis, M., & Joseph, C. G. (1994). Conspiracy thinking in the Middle East. Political Psychology, 15, 443–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

University of Warsaw, from BST 1250/11 and from BST 1646/04, funded the research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Stawki 5/7, 00-183, Warszawa, Poland

    Monika Grzesiak-Feldman

Authors
  1. Monika Grzesiak-Feldman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Monika Grzesiak-Feldman.

Appendices

Appendix A

English Translation of Items on the 6-Item Conspiracy Beliefs Scale

  1. 1.

    Members of the given nationality want to subordinate the world’s mass media to themselves.

  2. 2.

    Members of the given nationality want to have a leading say in international financial institutions.

  3. 3.

    Members of the given nationality want to dominate the World.

  4. 4.

    Members of the given nationality often pretend that they are someone else.

  5. 5.

    Members of the given nationality often say things other than what they really think.

  6. 6.

    Members of the given nationality often act undercover or in secret.

The response scale was strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).

Appendix B

English Translation of Items on the 18-Item Conspiracy Beliefs Scale (Kofta and Narkiewicz-Jodko 2001)

  1. 1.

    Members of the given nationality strive for larger influence on the World’s economy.

  2. 2.

    Members of the given nationality often act undercover or in secret.

  3. 3.

    Members of the given nationality often pretend that they are someone else.

  4. 4.

    Members of the given nationality support each other very much.

  5. 5.

    Members of the given nationality want to influence the minds of young people all over the word.

  6. 6.

    Members of the given nationality act as a unit to protect their own business.

  7. 7.

    Members of the given nationality are sensitive to the needs of other people only when they are in groupers.

  8. 8.

    Members of the given nationality want to subordinate other national and religious groups to themselves.

  9. 9.

    Members of the given nationality often say things other than what they really think.

  10. 10.

    Members of the given nationality meet secretly to discuss issues that are important to them.

  11. 11.

    Members of the given nationality are concerned only for their own welfare.

  12. 12.

    Members of the given nationality want to dominate the World.

  13. 13.

    Members of the given nationality want to have a leading say in international financial institutions.

  14. 14.

    Members of the given nationality make and implement secret plans.

  15. 15.

    Members of the given nationality do not care about outgroupers’ well-being.

  16. 16.

    Members of the given nationality want to subordinate the world’s mass media to themselves.

  17. 17.

    Members of the given nationality reach their goals through secret agreements.

  18. 18.

    Members of the given nationality help only their in groupers.

The response scale was strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Grzesiak-Feldman, M. The Effect of High-Anxiety Situations on Conspiracy Thinking. Curr Psychol 32, 100–118 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-013-9165-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-013-9165-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation