Why Do People Share Conspiracy Theories?

• In Event: Fake News, Misinformation, and Conspiracy Theories

Abstract

As a result of a recent increase in scholarly attention to conspiracy theory (CT)beliefs, we know a great deal about the demographic and psychological characteristics of the people who are most likely to believe CTs, as well as the role that political context plays in CT endorsement. Interdisciplinary research has also provided a great deal of insight into why people believe CTs. In contrast, we know much less about the characteristics of the people who are most likely to share CTs with others, the political/social conditions under which people are most likely to share CTs, and why people share them. The current project makes use of two representative survey experiments to examine the individual and contextual causes of sharing CTs with others. In addition to presenting the results of exploratory/descriptive analyses about the characteristics of sharers, the reasons they share, and the relationship between endorsement and sharing, we test two hypotheses: 1) people who perceive themselves to be on the losing side of politics are more likely to share CTs (in particular, ones that impugn their political opponents) than their counterparts; 2) people high in “need for chaos” (Peterson, Osmundsen, and Arceneaux 2018) are more likely to share CTs, and will share them indiscriminately (i.e., whether they impugn their political opponents or allies).

(Please note: Joanne Miller is now an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Delaware, jomiller@udel.edu. APSA hasn't updated her contact info yet).

Authors

• Joanne Miller, University of Delaware

• Christina Farhart, Carleton College

• Kyle L. Saunders, Colorado State University