IMPACT OF COGNITIVE BIASES ON CONSPIRACY MENTALITY IN YOUNG ADULTS

Abstract

The purpose of the present research was to study the impact of cognitive biases such as epistemic mistrust and threat sensitivity on conspiracy mentality in young adults. Present research proposed 3 hypothesis (1) Individuals in epistemic mistrust condition are likely have high conspiracy mentality as compare to control group. (2) Individuals in threat sensitivity condition are likely have high conspiracy mentality as compare to control group. (3) Individuals in combined condition are likely have high conspiracy mentality as compare to other experimental groups. The sample size was N=200 with age range 18-30. The sample divided into 4 groups i.e., epistemic mistrust group, threat sensitivity group, combined group and control group (N=50 in each group). Convenient sampling strategy was used. Qausai experimental research design between-subject was used. Demographic sheet along with tools such as Epistemic Trust, Mistrust, and Credulity Questionnaire (ETMCQ) (Campbell et al., 2021), Threat Sensitivity Scale (TSS) (March et al., 2024), Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ) (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014) were used. One-way ANOVA analysis was done, and the results showed that there was differences between groups.