Graduation Year
2024
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Psychology
Reader 1
Theodore Bartholomew
Reader 2
Jennifer Groscup
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2024 Rachel L Anderson
Abstract
Recent scholarly undertakings have aimed to demystify an increasingly salient issue that threatens to disrupt cultural, political, and social domains: conspiracy theory ideation. Underpinning injurious right-wing political coalitions, anti-vaccination campaigns, out-group derogation, and, in drastic circumstances, instances of genocide, conspiracy theory informs myriad anthropogenic movements that jeopardize pillars of democracy and scientific reasoning. Intending to reveal the psychological predictors of conspiracy ideation, the present study will examine the utility of individual perceptions of societal marginalization, feelings of loneliness, belongingness, and authoritarianism in predicting the endorsement of conspiracy theory ideology among rural populations via a cross-sectional online survey and subsequent hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The demographic variables of participant race, gender, and socioeconomic status (as operationalized by experiences of financial stress) will similarly be explored as predictors of conspiracy mentality. The implications of the proposed study may function as a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of conspiracy ideation, Further, these findings may inform social policy interventions that aim to integrate anomic individuals through the restoration of regulative collective institutions and ameliorate conditions of relative economic deprivation.
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Rachel L., "Hypermodern Affect, Political Orientation, and Conspiracy Theory Ideation in the Age of Postmodernity" (2024). Scripps Senior Theses. 2440.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/2440
