IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i22p15722-d1276013.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the Nexus between Conspiracy Beliefs and Creativity, Attitudes toward People, and Psychological Wellbeing: Insights from the 10th European Social Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Aiste Dirzyte

    (Faculty of Creative Industries, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Traku Str. 1, 10223 Vilnius, Lithuania
    Institute of Psychology, Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities Str. 20, 08303 Vilnius, Lithuania)

Abstract

Conspiracy beliefs can have a significant destructive impact on sustainable development. When individuals embrace conspiracy theories, it can result in social mistrust, polarization, and even harmful behaviors. Previous studies linked creativity to intelligence and fairly evidenced links between conspiracy beliefs and paranoid thinking and diminished psychological wellbeing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the associations between conspiracy beliefs and creativity, negative attitudes toward people, and psychological wellbeing. Based on the data derived from the ESS10, several relationships using mediation and SEM analyses were disclosed. The study confirmed that positive attitudes toward people significantly negatively predict conspiracy beliefs and significantly positively predict psychological wellbeing and self-reported creativity, while psychological wellbeing significantly negatively predicts conspiracy beliefs and is a mediator in the links between attitudes toward people and conspiracy beliefs. The SEM model demonstrated an acceptable fit, χ 2 = 987.210; Df = 16; CFI = 0.989; TLI = 0.975; NFI = 0.989; RMSEA = 0.040 [0.038–0.042], SRMR = 0.039. The study supported the insights of A. Hon that “conspiracy theories thrive in the absence of trust”. However, there are several avenues for future research to address potential limitations, including using more comprehensive scales, employing diverse research methods, controlling for confounding variables, or exploring potential moderating variables, such as personality traits or cultural factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Aiste Dirzyte, 2023. "Exploring the Nexus between Conspiracy Beliefs and Creativity, Attitudes toward People, and Psychological Wellbeing: Insights from the 10th European Social Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-21, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15722-:d:1276013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15722/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15722/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rob Cover & Jay Daniel Thompson & Ashleigh Haw, 2022. "The Spectre of Populist Leadership: QAnon, Emergent Formations, and Digital Community," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 118-128.
    2. Rob Cover & Jay Daniel Thompson & Ashleigh Haw, 2022. "The Spectre of Populist Leadership: QAnon, Emergent Formations, and Digital Community," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 118-128.
    3. Sabera Turkmani & Sarita Bista & Joanna J. J. Wang & Alexander W. O’Donnell & Catherine Thomson & Natasha Jane Radcliffe & Jennifer Skattebol & Gerry Redmond & Fiona Brooks, 2023. "Social and Emotional Wellbeing Among Young People; the Mitigating Role of Ecological Domains," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(3), pages 941-962, June.
    4. Fang Chen & Yiming Jing & Adele Hayes & Jeong Lee, 2013. "Two Concepts or Two Approaches? A Bifactor Analysis of Psychological and Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 1033-1068, June.
    5. Dustin Tingley & Gernot Wagner, 2017. "Solar geoengineering and the chemtrails conspiracy on social media," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Valerio Pellegrini & Valeria De Cristofaro & Marco Salvati & Mauro Giacomantonio & Luigi Leone, 2021. "Social Exclusion and Anti-Immigration Attitudes in Europe: The mediating role of Interpersonal Trust," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 697-724, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ashley Hinck, 2022. "Editorial: Populism in and Through Online Communities," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 105-108.
    2. Ashley Hinck, 2022. "Editorial: Populism in and Through Online Communities," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 105-108.
    3. Bedriye Alıcı & Gürcan Seçim, 2020. "The Psychometric Properties of the Turkish Version of the Riverside Life Satisfaction Scale–Adult Form," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    4. Daniel Homocianu, 2023. "Exploring the Predictors of Co-Nationals’ Preference over Immigrants in Accessing Jobs—Evidence from World Values Survey," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-29, February.
    5. Kozar Łukasz, 2021. "Non-Monetary Indicators of Social Exclusion – A Multidimensional Comparative Analysis of the Eu-10 Countries," Econometrics. Advances in Applied Data Analysis, Sciendo, vol. 25(4), pages 40-53, December.
    6. Martin Rode, 2022. "The institutional foundations of surf break governance in Atlantic Europe," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 190(1), pages 175-204, January.
    7. Veljko Jovanović & Maksim Rudnev & Christ Billy Aryanto & Beatrice Adriana Balgiu & Corrado Caudek & Jesus Alfonso D. Datu & Tharina Guse & Theodoros Kyriazos & Louise Lambert & Krishna Kumar Mishra &, 2024. "A Cross-Cultural Evaluation of Diener’s Tripartite Model of Subjective Well-Being Across 16 Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1-25, August.
    8. Rasmus Karlsson, 2021. "Learning in the Anthropocene," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-11, June.
    9. Omar Megherbi-Moulay & Bénédicte Jullian & Nicolas Franchitto & Valérie Igier & Florence Sordes, 2025. "Transcultural Adaptation and Validation in French of the BBC Subjective Well-Being Scale (BBC-SWB) in the General Population," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 20(2), pages 851-885, April.
    10. Ningning Liu & Qikang Zhong, 2023. "The impact of sports participation on individuals’ subjective well-being: the mediating role of class identity and health," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    11. Christine Merk & Gert Pönitzsch & Katrin Rehdanz, 2019. "Do climate engineering experts display moral-hazard behaviour?," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 231-243, February.
    12. Želinský, Tomáš & Soroková, Tatiana & Petríková, Daniela, 2018. "Economic Characteristics and Subjective Well-Being," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 50(3), pages 334-364.
    13. Qingsong Tan & Ningzhe Zhu & Linting Zhang & Feng Kong, 2023. "Disentangling the Relations Between Self-esteem and Subjective Well-being in Emerging Adults: A Two-wave Longitudinal Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2177-2199, October.
    14. Cai Xing & Hongfei Wang & Menglin He & Wenfeng Li & Qi Wang, 2025. "Life is Short, So Experience It to the Fullest: The Effect of Future Time Perspective on Purchase Preferences and Subsequent Experiential Advantage in Psychological Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(7), pages 1-23, October.
    15. Ana Blasco-Belled & Radosław Rogoza & Cristina Torrelles-Nadal & Carles Alsinet, 2020. "Emotional Intelligence Structure and Its Relationship with Life Satisfaction and Happiness: New Findings from the Bifactor Model," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(6), pages 2031-2049, August.
    16. Monk Jaimie & Arthur Grimes, 2025. "Housing and child development: Trajectories of child wellbeing by tenure type in Aotearoa New Zealand," Motu Working Papers 25_05, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    17. Ann DeSmet & Catherine Culot & Devintha Virani & S. Pabian & Eva Ariño Mateo & Kathleen Van Royen & Anke Oenema & Margaux Liebmann, 2024. "A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effectiveness of Dietary Interventions to Enhance Mental Wellbeing in Emerging Adulthood," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1-37, August.
    18. Brian G. Southwell & J. Scott Babwah Brennen & Ryan Paquin & Vanessa Boudewyns & Jing Zeng, 2022. "Defining and Measuring Scientific Misinformation," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 98-111, March.
    19. Yang Zhang & Stephen McGuire & Jinfeng Wang & Tsu-Tan Fu & Robert Tang & Juan Perusquía, 2024. "A Consequence of Social Entrepreneurial Intent: The Good Life," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 33(2), pages 330-364, May.
    20. Gemma Crous & Ferran Casas & Mònica González-Carrasco, 2018. "What Aspects are Important to Adolescents to Achieve Full Satisfaction in Life?," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(6), pages 1699-1718, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15722-:d:1276013. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.