The conspiracy hoax? Testing key hypotheses about the correlates of generic beliefs in conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic

Conspiracy beliefs seem a highly relevant phenomenon in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as indicated, for example, by social media influencers regularly referring to or promoting conspiracy theories. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to test hypotheses concerning correlates of generic beliefs in conspiracy theories. For this study, we identified four key hypotheses from the extant literature concerning both the predictors and possible outcomes of generic beliefs in conspiracy theories. Specifically, we plan to examine whether generic beliefs in conspiracy theories are correlated with (1) level of education, (2) trust in media, public health institutions, the government, and science, (3) fears and worries and (4) preventive behavior using OLS regression models. Preregistration of: Bruder, M. & Kunert, L. (2021). The conspiracy hoax? Testing key hypotheses about the correlates of generic beliefs in conspiracy theories during the COVID ‐19 pandemic. International Journal of Psychology, 57(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12769 other