There is a lot of misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating about the Covid-19 pandemic. But who are these people who believe in it? A study now shows that people with so-called "dark" personality traits, who are primarily concerned with their own advantage, are more inclined to believe false reports. In addition to their political orientation, their view of knowledge also plays a role: those who are convinced that science, politics and the media construct facts according to their interests are the most susceptible to conspiracy theories.
The Covid-19 pandemic has spawned numerous new conspiracy theories: Without solid evidence and often contrary to all available scientific evidence, these claim, for example, that the pandemic was planned well in advance to abolish civil liberties, that the vaccinations were actually used to Secretly implant microchips in people for surveillance, or the virus will be transmitted via the 5G mobile phone standard.
ideas about the nature of knowledge
"Some people believe fake news, even if the scientific facts clearly contradict it," says lead author Jan Philipp Rudloff from the University of Würzburg. "We wanted to know why this is so and what role ideas about the nature of knowledge and facts play in this." The researchers were also interested in how these ideas are related to personality, in particular to so-called "dark" personality traits. In psychology, this is understood to mean narcissistic, psychopathic, egoistic and manipulative character traits.
To find out how personality traits and perceptions of knowledge interact and what the connection is with belief in fake news, Rudloff and his colleagues conducted four consecutive studies, each of which asked several hundred people from the United States or Germany to fill out an online questionnaire. Among other things, the participants were asked how much they trust their gut feeling when evaluating information, how important solid evidence is to them and to what extent they assume that apparent facts are constructed by politicians, scientists and the media according to their own interests.
"We also summarize these aspects under the term 'epistemic beliefs'," explains Rudloff. Epistéme comes from the Greek and means "knowledge" or "knowledge". In psychology, it is assumed that epistemic ideas develop and solidify during childhood and adolescence. While children only see black or white on many points, over time they learn to differentiate and see different opinions as equal. "At some point we'll learn, ideally, to evaluate different positions," says Rudloff. "According to the motto: There are different opinions, but some can be proven better than others." But not everyone seems to take this step.
True or false?
In their study, the researchers also recorded in their questionnaire how strong “dark” personality traits were pronounced in the test subjects, i.e. how careful they are to assert their own interests – if necessary at the expense of others. “Everyone is selfish to some degree,” explains Rudloff. "It becomes problematic when this fixation on one's own well-being is so strong that that of fellow human beings no longer plays a role." The result: "In our first study with 321 participants from the USA, we found initial evidence that people with those with darker personality traits are more prone to post-truth epistemic beliefs," the researchers report.
In the studies that were based on this, Rudloff and his team asked the subjects, in addition to the questionnaire, to assess the truthfulness of a series of partly correct, partly fictional statements. All three studies were carried out in the first year of the Covid 19 pandemic: two studies with a total of almost 1400 US participants in March and October 2020 and one study with over 500 test persons from Germany in December 2020. All studies showed: The less the participants believed in the existence of objective facts and the more pronounced dark personality traits they had, the more difficult it was for them to distinguish true statements from false ones. According to some reports, they also adhered less to the measures prescribed by the government to contain the Covid 19 pandemic.
Distortion of facts for selfish motives
“People with dark personality traits bend reality to suit them. For example: I don't wear a mask because the corona virus is just an invention of the media anyway," explains Rudloff. "Of course, this distortion of the facts for selfish motives works particularly well if they are already convinced that there are no independent scientific facts." Political orientation also played a role for the participants from the USA: people who identify themselves in the People on the right of the political spectrum were more likely to believe in Covid-19 conspiracy theories and adhere less to measures. From the authors' point of view, this could be explained by the fact that the then US President Donald Trump himself fueled conspiracy theories and thus encouraged his supporters in these views.
But even if personality traits and political orientation play a role: "The epistemic convictions are always decisive," emphasizes Rudloff. "Anyone who does not believe in the power of solid evidence and arguments will not be swayed by the most impressive fact check - regardless of what his other personality traits are like. This applies to fake news as well as conspiracy theories.”
Source: Jan Philipp Rudloff (University of Würzburg) et al., Journal of Personality, doi: 10.1111/jopy.12706