Introduction: Context-specific conspiracy beliefs refer to the conviction that powerful entities are plotting against society, in relation to specific social or political issues. Populist attitudes can be political or contextual.
Purpose: This work investigates conspiracy beliefs, populist attitudes, and policy support within the economic context. The aim is to examine how exposure to economic and financial conspiracy theories influences beliefs in such theories, economic and political populist attitudes, and economic redistribution policy support, in Italy and Germany, with implications for applied psychology. From an applied psychological perspective, understanding the psychological mechanisms linking these constructs is crucial for implementing interventions that promote support for economic redistribution policies.
Methods: Study 1 (Italy) and Study 2 (Germany) employed a between-subject design: participants' exposure to economic and financial conspiracy theories, vs. no exposure. To ensure cultural relevance while maintaining conceptual equivalence, experimental manipulations were adapted to each national context. A Monte Carlo power analysis for indirect effects was conducted. An online self-report questionnaire was implemented on Qualtrics for each study. Data collection took place in June 2024 via Prolific; participants were balanced by gender. Data analysis was conducted with SPSS and R.
Results: Study 1 (Italy, N = 220) and Study 2 (Germany, N = 220) showed consistent effects of the exposure to economic and financial conspiracy theories on beliefs in such theories, which in turn influenced economic and political populist attitudes. However, the studies showed differing results regarding the role of the variables of interest on economic redistribution policy support.
Conclusions: While the results cannot be generalized, they demonstrate the complex relationship between context-specific conspiracy beliefs, political and contextual populist attitudes, and policy support within the economic context. Interventions aimed at counteracting the negative consequences of exposure to conspiracy theories should consider how economic redistribution policies can be influenced in different cultural contexts.