Psychological Essentialism as a Predictor of Conspiracy Endorsement

• In Event: JSS 12
  In JSS Session: Partisanship, Polarization, and Motivated Reasoning

Brief Overview

Data from 575 undergraduates shows essentialism predicts beliefs in Republican conspiracy theories(CT), not Democratic CTs. I develop a scale to measure essentialist beliefs on partisans.This scale explains beliefs in Republican and Democratic CTs.

Author

• Mertcan Bayar, Binghamton University