ArticleBritish journal of psychology (London, England : 1953)2026
Why existential threats increase conspiracy beliefs: Evidence for the mediating roles of agency detection and pattern perception.
Article in British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beneath the Surface of Unfounded Belief Systems: An Extended Test of the Dimensionality Hypothesis.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2026Article
- Why existential threats increase conspiracy beliefs: Evidence for the mediating roles of agency detection and pattern perception.British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953) · 2026Article
- 'Sweet poison' and 'mild medicine': Different effects of collective narcissism and collective self-esteem on ingroup versus outgroup conspiracy beliefs.British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
This research investigates the cognitive mechanisms linking health-related existential threats to conspiracy beliefs within a Chinese context. Study 1 (N = 199) demonstrated that the relationship between perceived existential threats and outgroup conspiracy beliefs is mediated by hypersensitive agency detection through an experimental manipulation involving a monkeypox virus threat. Studies 2a (N = 198) and 2b (N = 200) revealed that illusory pattern perception also mediates this relationship. In Study 3 (N = 278, using a manipulation of threatening information about genetically modified foods) and in Study 4 (N = 296, using information about Japan's discharge of nuclear sewage), both hypersensitive agency detection and illusory pattern perception mediated this relationship. Additional mini-meta-analyses further corroborated these findings. We conclude that the effects of existential threats on outgroup conspiracy beliefs are mediated by hypersensitive agency detection and illusory pattern perception.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.