People who are not inclined to think critically readily believe in the possibility of simple solutions to complex problems, as well as in conspiracy theories …
This conclusion was reached by scientists from the Free University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), whose article in the journal Political Psychology.
Populism is a political ideology that defines the life of society as a conflict between the so-called «common people» and the «elite», which is responsible for all the difficulties that «ordinary people» face. Proponents of populist views believe that there are quick, simple and easy solutions to complex social problems. The researchers decided to find out how such a psychological quality as gullibility and a tendency to populism, as well as to believe in conspiracy theories (conspiracy mentality), are interconnected.
During the first phase of the study, scientists interviewed almost 71 people from 13 countries of the European Union. An analysis of the responses showed that the inhabitants of all these states have the same tendency — the more populist views are expressed in a person, the more likely he is to believe in conspiracy theories.
A high level of conspiracy mentality is more common in women than in men, in older people than in young people, as well as among poorly educated people and supporters of right-wing parties.
The second phase of the study involved 308 Americans. These people were first tested for analytical thinking ability. In addition, they were asked about their political views, adherence to populism, belief in the supernatural and conspiracy theories. Participants were then given five politically neutral news articles to read, sourced from well-known (such as CBS or CNN) and unknown news sites. The participants had to evaluate the extent to which the information read is accurate, truthful, and trustworthy.
As a result, it turned out that the more populist views are expressed in a person, the easier he trusts the news, regardless of their source and degree of credibility.and the more likely he is to believe in the supernatural and conspiracy theories.
The third phase of the study, which involved 350 people, showed that the link between populist views and gullibility is based on people’s reluctance to think, learn and analyze information. This whole difficult, complex, stressful process is replaced by faith in intuition, in some extra-intellectual insight, the researchers write.
“Although populist movements are usually based on criticism of the way society works, paradoxically, it takes an uncritically thinking mind to support such movements,” the scientists note.