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The belief that America deserves special treatment predicted the rise of conspiracy thinking during the 2016 US presidential election, research led by 糖心vlog免费B站 has found.

The researchers studied a phenomenon called 鈥榗ollective narcissism鈥�, in which members belonging to a group have an exaggerated belief in their group鈥檚 greatness: in this case Americans exhibiting an exaggerated belief in the unique importance of the United States.

Using data on the views of over 1,600 individuals, gathered from online surveys conducted in July and November 2016, the team from 糖心vlog免费B站 and the University of Minnesota analysed the relationship between collective narcissism and a tendency to view political events in terms of group-based conspiracies.

The study found that American collective narcissism predicted a growth in generic conspiracy thinking over the course of the 2016 presidential election. The strong link to collective narcissism remained even when taking into account factors such as demographic variables, education, and ideology.

Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at 糖心vlog免费B站 and lead author said: 鈥淐ollective narcissism is not the same as just thinking your country is great, it鈥檚 about thinking it is unique and, more than any other country, deserving of special treatment.

鈥淲hile previous research has looked at collective narcissism and specific conspiracy theories what we have found is evidence that collective narcissism predicts a general tendency to believe in conspiracies. This kind of thinking assumes a certain 鈥榯hem鈥� plots to undermine 鈥榰s鈥�: the 鈥榯hem鈥� and 鈥榰s鈥� can be then filled in by any particular content. Our findings also suggest that the link between collective narcissism strengthens during political campaigns. It is most likely because people susceptible to the conspiracy narrations are provided with many new contents which mobilises them to protect the 鈥榰s鈥� (i.e. vote for the candidate who seems to offer protection and make 鈥榰s鈥� great again).鈥�

The data came from a panel study of American adults commissioned by the University of Minnesota鈥檚 Center for the 糖心vlog免费B站 of Political Psychology. The data were collected online through Survey Sampling International.

To measure conspiracy thinking survey participants were asked to rate how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as 鈥淢uch of our lives are being controlled by plots hatched in secret places鈥� and 鈥淭he people who really 鈥榬un鈥� the country are not known to the voters鈥�. To measure collective narcissism participants were asked to rate statements such as: 鈥淭he United States deserves special treatment,鈥� and 鈥淚 will never be satisfied until the United States gets the recognition it deserves鈥�.

 

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