Conspiracy Theories as a Source of Social Stigma in the Age of Corona - a Replication of a Study by Lantian et al. (2018)

The present study was designed as a replication of the original study, in which we tested the conspiracy-theory-as-social-stigma hypothesis. The main difference was the vignette, which was replaced by conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first experiment (N = 143), subjects were asked to write down three arguments in the context of a putative online competition supporting (or rejecting) conspiracy theories about the Corona pandemic (mid-2020). In the second experiment (N = 237), participants were asked to imagine supporting (or rejecting) conspiracy theories in front of an audience. In both experiments, anticipated fear of social exclusion was significantly elevated in the endorsement condition relative to the rejection condition and was mediated by anticipated negative self-evaluation. This mediation effect was attenuated when general conspiracy was high. Overall, the findings suggest that the term "conspiracy theory" should be avoided in public debates to prevent stigmatization and division.