Do conspiracy theories efficiently signal coalition membership? An experimental test using the "Who Said What?" design.

ABSTRACT: Theoretical work in evolutionary psychology have proposed that conspiracy theories may serve a coalitional function. Specifically, fringe and offensive statements such as conspiracy theories are expected to send a highly credible signal of coalition membership by clearly distinguishing the speaker's group from other groups. A key implication of this theory is that cognitive systems designed for alliance detection should intuitively interpret the endorsement of conspiracy theories as coalitional cues. To our knowledge, no previous studies have empirically investigated this claim. Taking the domain of environmental policy as our case, we examine the hypothesis that beliefs framed in a conspiratorial manner act as more efficient coalitional markers of environmental position than similar but n

SUBMITTER: Mus M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8912250 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature