Coping capacity attenuates the effect of natural disaster risk on conspiracy beliefs

In this study, authors hypothesized that disaster risk and lack of coping capacity are positively related to conspiracy beliefs and tested these relationships across three studies. Disasters have threatened human societies throughout history, however, their psychological effects on people are not fully understood.

Study 1 analyzed a global dataset (47,816 participants; 67 countries) and found support for the positive relationships between disaster risk, lack of coping capacity, and conspiracy beliefs. Study 2 (preregistered; N = 400) manipulated disaster risk, yielding the predicted effect on conspiracy beliefs. Study 3 (preregistered; N = 451) introduced an additional manipulation of coping capacity. The results supported our hypothesis that high disaster risk predicted increased conspiracy beliefs, especially when coping capacity was low. Overall, the findings suggest that improving coping capacity might be effective for governments in reducing people's conspiracy beliefs in the context of disasters.