Understanding the predictors of belief in COVID-related conspiracy theories and willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 may aid the resolution of current and future pandemics. We investigate how psychological and cognitive characteristics influence general conspiracy mentality and COVID-related conspiracy theories. A cross-sectional study was conducted based on data from an online survey of a sample of Czech university students (n = 866) collected in January 2021, using multivariate linear regression and mediation analysis. Sixteen percent of respondents believed that COVID-19 is a hoax, and 17% believed that COVID-19 was intentionally created by humans. Seven percent of the variance of the hoax theory and 10% of the variance of the creation theory was explained by (in descending order of relevance) low cognitive reflection, low digital health literacy, high experience with dissociation and, to some extent, high bullshit receptivity. Belief in COVID-related conspiracy theories depended less on psychological and cognitive variables compared to conspiracy mentality (16% of the variance explained). The effect of digital health literacy on belief in COVID-related theories was moderated by cognitive reflection. Belief in conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 was influenced by experience with dissociation, cognitive reflection, digital health literacy and bullshit receptivity.

Center of Physical Education and Sport Faculty of Education University of West Bohemia 30100 Pilsen Czech Republic

Department of Psychiatry 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague and General University Hospital Prague 12808 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital in Pilsen Charles University 30100 Pilsen Czech Republic

Department of Psychiatry School of Medicine New York University New York NY 10016 USA

Department of Psychological Methods University of Amsterdam 1012 Amsterdam The Netherlands

Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education 10005 Prague Czech Republic

International Clinical Research Center St Anne's University Hospital Brno 65691 Brno Czech Republic

Memory Clinic Department of Neurology 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University and Motol University Hospital 15006 Prague Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

World Health Organization Novel Coronavirus. Situation Report—13. [(accessed on 11 April 2021)];2020 Available online: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200202-sitrep-13-ncov-v3.pdf.

Hartman T.K., Marshall M., Stocks T.V., McKay R., Bennett K.M., Butter S., Miller J.G., Hyland P., Levita L., Bentall R.P., et al. Different Conspiracy Theories Have Different Psychological and Social Determinants: Comparison of Three Theories about the Origins of the COVID-19 Virus in a Representative Sample. PsyArXiv. 2020 doi: 10.31234/osf.io/mz5sw. DOI

Kowalski J., Marchlewska M., Molenda Z., Górska P., Gawęda Ł. Adherence to safety and self-isolation guidelines, conspiracy and paranoia-like beliefs during COVID-19 pandemic in Poland—Associations and moderators. Psychiatry Res. 2020;294:113540. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113540. PubMed DOI PMC

Romer D., Jamieson K.H. Conspiracy theories as barriers to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. Soc. Sci. Med. 2020;263:113356. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113356. PubMed DOI PMC

Imhoff R., Lamberty P. A Bioweapon or a Hoax? The Link between Distinct Conspiracy Beliefs about the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak and Pandemic Behavior. Soc. Psychol. Person. Sci. 2020;11:1110–1118. doi: 10.1177/1948550620934692. PubMed DOI PMC

Kennedy F., Clarke S., Stopa L., Bell L., Rouse H., Ainsworth C., Fearon P., Waller G. Towards a cognitive model and measure of dissociation. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psychiatry. 2004;35:25–48. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2004.01.002. PubMed DOI

Stoica C.A., Umbreș R. Suspicious minds in times of crisis: Determinants of Romanians’ beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Eur. Soc. 2020;23(Suppl. 1):S246–S261. doi: 10.1080/14616696.2020.1823450. DOI

Sadeghiyeh H., Khanahmadi I., Farhadbeigi P., Karimi N. Cognitive Reflection and the Coronavirus Conspiracy Beliefs. PsyArXiv. 2020:preprint. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/p9wxj. DOI

Pennycook G., Cheyne J.A., Barr N., Koehler D.J., Fugelsang J.A. On the Reception and Detection of Pseudo-profound Bullshit. Judgm. Decis. Mak. 2015;10:549–563. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279. DOI

Stagnaro M.N., Ross R.M., Pennycook G., Rand D.G. Cross-cultural support for a link between analytic thinking and disbelief in God: Evidence from India and the United Kingdom. Judgm. Decis. Mak. 2019;14:179–186.

Okan O., Bollweg T.M., Berens E.-M., Hurrelmann K., Bauer U., Schaeffer D. Coronavirus-Related Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study in Adults during the COVID-19 Infodemic in Germany. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020;17:5503. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17155503. PubMed DOI PMC

Pickles K., Cvejic E., Nickel B., Copp T., Bonner C., Leask J., Ayre J., Batcup C., Cornell S., McCaffery K.J., et al. COVID-19 misinformation trends in Australia: Prospective longitudinal national survey. J. Med. Internet Res. 2021;23:e23805. doi: 10.2196/23805. PubMed DOI PMC

Nguyen T.H., Paasche-Orlow M.K., McCormack L.A. The state of the science of health literacy measurement. Inf. Serv. Use. 2017;37:189–203. doi: 10.3233/ISU-170827. PubMed DOI PMC

Vitriol J.A., Marsh J.K. The illusion of explanatory depth and endorsement of conspiracy beliefs. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 2018;48:955–969. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2504. DOI

Mahmood K. Do people overestimate their information literacy skills? A systematic review of empirical evidence on the dunning-kruger effect. Commun. Inf. Lit. 2016;10:198–213. doi: 10.15760/comminfolit.2016.10.2.24. DOI

Duplaga M. The Determinants of Conspiracy Beliefs Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Nationally Representative Sample of Internet Users. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020;17:7818. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17217818. PubMed DOI PMC

Duplaga M., Grysztar M. The Association between Future Anxiety, Health Literacy and the Perception of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study. Healthcare. 2021;9:43. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9010043. PubMed DOI PMC

Aharon A.A., Nehama H., Rishpon S., Baron-Epel O. Parents with high levels of communicative and critical health literacy are less likely to vaccinate their children. Patient Educ. Couns. 2017;100:768–775. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2016.11.016. PubMed DOI

World Health Organization . In: Health Literacy: The Solid Facts. Kickbusch I., Pelikan J.M., Apfel F., Tsouros A.D., editors. [(accessed on 10 May 2021)]. Available online: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/128703/e96854.pdf.

Ptáček R., Bob P. Metody diagnostiky disociativních symptomů. Czech Slovak Psychiatry. 2009;105:163–172.

Bruder M., Haffke P., Neave N., Nouripanah N., Imhoff R. Measuring Individual Differences in Generic Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories Across Cultures: Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire. Front. Psychol. 2013;4:225. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00225. PubMed DOI PMC

Frederick S. Cognitive reflection and decision making. J. Econ. Perspect. 2005;19:25–42. doi: 10.1257/089533005775196732. DOI

Norman C.D., Skinner H.A. eHEALS: The eHealth literacy scale. J. Med. Internet Res. 2006;8:e507. doi: 10.2196/jmir.8.4.e27. PubMed DOI PMC

Wu A.D., Zumbo B.D. Understanding and using mediators and moderators. Soc. Indic. Res. 2008;87:367–392. doi: 10.1007/s11205-007-9143-1. DOI

Revelle W. How to Use the Psych Package for Mediation/Moderation/Regression Analysis. [(accessed on 10 May 2021)];2021 Available online: http://personality-project.org/r/psych/HowTo/mediation.pdf.

R Core Team R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. [(accessed on 20 December 2020)];2020 Available online: https://www.r-project.org.

Wickham H., Averick M., Bryan J., Chang W., McGowan LD A., François R., Grolemund G., Hayes A., Henry L., Yutani H., et al. Welcome to the Tidyverse. J. Open Source Softw. 2019;4:1686. doi: 10.21105/joss.01686. DOI

Revelle W. psych: Procedures for Psychological, Psychometric, and Personality Research. R Package. [(accessed on 27 February 2021)];2020 Available online: https://cran.r-project.org/package=psych.

Fletcher T.D. QuantPsyc: Quantitative Psychology Tools. R Package. [(accessed on 27 February 2021)];2012 Available online: https://cran.r-project.org/package=QuantPsyc.

Charlton E. Undergraduate Thesis. Manchester Metropolitan University; Manchester, UK: 2014. Conspiracy Theories and Dissociative experiences: The Role of Personality and Paranormal Beliefs.

Dyrendal A., Kennair L., Bendixen M. Predictors of belief in conspiracy theory: The role of individual differences in schizotypal traits, paranormal beliefs, social dominance orientation, right wing authoritarianism and conspiracy mentality. Pers. Individ. Differ. 2021;173:110645. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.110645. DOI

Darwin H., Neave N., Holmes J. Belief in conspiracy theories. The role of paranormal belief, paranoid ideation and schizotypy. Pers. Individ. Differ. 2011;50:1289–1293. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2011.02.027. DOI

Rattet S.L., Bursik K. Investigating the personality correlates of paranormal belief and precognitive experience. Pers. Individ. Differ. 2001;31:433–444. doi: 10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00148-3. DOI

Douglas K.M., Sutton R.M., Callan M.J., Dawtry R.J., Harvey A.J. Someone is pulling the strings: Hypersensitive agency detection and belief in conspiracy theories. Think. Reason. 2016;22:57–77. doi: 10.1080/13546783.2015.1051586. DOI

Mosleh M., Pennycook G., Arechar A.A., Rand D.G. Cognitive reflection correlates with behavior on Twitter. Nat. Commun. 2021;12:1–10. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20043-0. PubMed DOI PMC

Pennycook G., Rand D.G. Who falls for fake news? The roles of bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, familiarity, and analytic thinking. J. Pers. 2020;88:185–200. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12476. PubMed DOI

Douglas K.M., Uscinski J.E., Sutton R.M., Cichocka A., Nefes T., Ang C.S., Deravi F. Understanding Conspiracy Theories. Polit. Psychol. 2019;40(Suppl. 1):3–35. doi: 10.1111/pops.12568. DOI

Hart W., Albarracín D., Eagly A.H., Brechan I., Lindberg M.J., Merrill L. Feeling validated versus being correct: A meta-analysis of selective exposure to information. Psychol Bull. 2009;135:555–588. doi: 10.1037/a0015701. PubMed DOI PMC

Park C.L. Making Sense of the Meaning Literature: An Integrative Review of Meaning Making and Its Effects on Adjustment to Stressful Life Events. Psychol. Bull. 2010;136:257–301. doi: 10.1037/a0018301. PubMed DOI

Kunda Z. The case for motivated reasoning. Psychol. Bull. 1990;108:480–498. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480. PubMed DOI

Oleksy T., Wnuk A., Maison D., Łyś A. Content matters. Different predictors and social consequences of general and government-related conspiracy theories on COVID-19. Pers. Individ. Differ. 2021;168:110289. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110289. PubMed DOI PMC

Sternisko A., Cichocka A., Cislak A., van Bavel J.J. Collective Narcissism Predicts the Belief and Dissemination of Conspiracy Theories during the COVID-19 Pandemic. PsyArXiv. 2020 doi: 10.31234/osf.io/4c6av. PubMed DOI PMC

Kim S., Kim S. Searching for General Model of Conspiracy Theories and Its Implication for Public Health Policy: Analysis of the Impacts of Political, Psychological, Structural Factors on Conspiracy Beliefs about the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020;18:266. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18010266. PubMed DOI PMC

Willingness to Vaccinate Against COVID-19: The Role of Health Locus of Control and Conspiracy Theories