Universal threads: Shared sociopolitical roots and consequences of extrasensory perception and pseudoscientific beliefs

While irrational beliefs cluster together, their content differs widely, from beliefs about collective memories shaping biological properties (pseudoscientific) to those about premonition (extrasensory). This difference might extend further - they might reflect similar thinking dispositions, but be differently embedded in worldviews (pseudoscientific beliefs being typically endorsed by conservatives). Across three studies (total N = 1042), we explored whether pseudoscientific and ESP beliefs (1) are related to less analytical, more intuitive, prone to contradictions and fatalistic thinking, but (2) are differentially tied to a conservative, authoritarian and ethnocentric worldview, and are (3) differentially predictive of past use of non-evidence-based practices, ESP experiences and civic activism. Both beliefs were, expectedly, similarly predicted by thinking dispositions, but also by authoritarian and ethnocentric views. Moreover, both beliefs predicted similar behavioral outcomes. We argue that the relationship between the conservative worldview, irrational beliefs and socially relevant behaviors is important for understanding how public policies get politicized.