From Psychological Distress and Distrust to Conspiracy Beliefs: A Constructivist Study of Negative Phenomena of the COVID-19 Pandemic
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68081740%3A_____%2F25%3A00580424" target="_blank" >RIV/68081740:_____/25:00580424 - isvavai.cz</a>
Alternative codes found
RIV/00216224:14230/25:00140186
Result on the web
<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10720537.2023.2294323" target="_blank" >https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10720537.2023.2294323</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2023.2294323" target="_blank" >10.1080/10720537.2023.2294323</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
From Psychological Distress and Distrust to Conspiracy Beliefs: A Constructivist Study of Negative Phenomena of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Original language description
Conspiracy beliefs (CBs) occured on a large scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has identified numerous factors associated with CBs at both the individual level (e.g., cognitive bias, distress) and the social level (e.g., distrust). However, emphasizing either individual or social factors leads to incompatible accounts of CBs. Based on the framework of personal construct psychology, we propose an integrative account of CBs. A precursor of CBs is a distressing situation (e.g., the pandemic) that invalidates individuals’ construct systems. If a person prevents his or her construct system from being invalidated in a hostile way (i.e., extorts its validity), he or she becomes more skeptical and suspicious. At the social level, these processes are intensified by a decrease in sociality, which is associated with distrust and leads to the elaboration of CBs. Using a mixed-design approach, we conducted a study involving a sample of 23 participants who endorsed CBs to varying degrees. We found that participants with elaborated CBs experienced distress at the onset of the pandemic. They also exhibited the strategy of hostility and developed distrustful relationships with people who expressed opposing opinions about the pandemic. The results indicate that hostility could be the key process underlying CBs.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
50101 - Psychology (including human - machine relations)
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Journal of Constructivist Psychology
ISSN
1072-0537
e-ISSN
1521-0650
Volume of the periodical
38
Issue of the periodical within the volume
1
Country of publishing house
GB - UNITED KINGDOM
Number of pages
23
Pages from-to
66-88
UT code for WoS article
001132149200001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85180908614