Conspiracy Beliefs Linked to Greater Support for Political Violence

Political protests and the spread of conspiracy theories have both risen in Western democracies over the last decade, yet most work focuses on why citizens believe conspiracies rather than what those beliefs lead them to do.

🔎 What This Paper Asks

This paper investigates whether belief in conspiracy theories is associated with a greater propensity to endorse political violence or to legitimize radical political action. The argument builds on pathway theories of radicalization: conspiracy narratives can channel resentment toward political targets and thereby foster radical attitudes.

📊 How Attitudes Were Measured

• Correlational evidence comes from a survey of U.S. respondents recruited on MTurk.
• Attitudes toward political violence were captured with two multi-item batteries, including one instrument developed for this study.

📈 Key Findings

• Higher scores on a generic conspiracy belief scale are associated with a greater likelihood of endorsing violent political actions.
• The evidence is correlational, not causal, and speaks to an association between conspiratorial belief and support for radical tactics.

💡 Why It Matters

• The findings link the growing diffusion of conspiracy theories to a possible behavioral consequence: increased legitimization of political violence.
• This connection helps explain one potential pathway from belief in conspiracies to political radicalization and highlights the importance of studying behavioral outcomes, not just reasons for belief.