How Are Conspiracy Beliefs Associated with Generosity?

Conspiracy believers tend to trust people less, exhibit greater antisocial tendencies, and are more self-centered. In the current research, we investigate whether conspiracy believers are also less likely to be generous. In Study 1 (N = 45,073 from 52 countries), in the context of COVID-19, we found that participants with higher COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were less likely to donate to national and international charities, and that this negative association was stronger for donations to national charities. In Study 2 (N = 850; UK sample), using an economic game with real monetary incentives, we replicated this negative association between more general conspiracy beliefs and donations to charities for childhood cancer, a less politicized issue. However, contrary to Study 1, the negative association was stronger for donations to international charities. These findings suggest that both the issue and the recipient of donations influence whether conspiracy believers exhibit less generosity.