'They will not control us': Ingroup positivity and belief in intergroup conspiracies.
This research examined the role of different forms of positive regard for the ingroup in predicting beliefs in intergroup conspiracies. Collective narcissism reflects a belief in ingroup greatness contingent on others' recognition. We hypothesized that collective narcissism should be especially likely to foster outgroup conspiracy beliefs. Non-narcissistic ingroup positivity, on the other hand, should predict a weaker tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. In Study 1, the endorsement of conspiratorial explanations of outgroup actions was positively predicted by collective narcissism but negatively by non-narcissistic ingroup positivity. Study 2 showed that the opposite effects of collective narcissism and non-narcissistic ingroup positivity on conspiracy beliefs were mediated via differential perceptions of threat. Study 3 manipulated whether conspiracy theories implicated ingroup or outgroup members. Collective narcissism predicted belief in outgroup conspiracies but not in ingroup conspiracies, while non-narcissistic ingroup positivity predicted lower conspiracy beliefs, regardless of them being ascribed to the ingroup or the outgroup.
School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
Aleksandra
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1703-1586
A
Cichocka
Institute for Social Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland.
Marta
M
Marchlewska
Department of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poznań, Poland.|ISCTE-IUL/CIS-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal.|Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.
Agnieszka
A
Golec de Zavala
Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland.
Mateusz
M
Olechowski
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D055815:Young Adult
collective narcissism; conspiracy beliefs; ingroup identification; threat