The dark side of conspiracy theories: Exploring the influence of conspiracy beliefs on violence responses and jury decision-making

The aim of this thesis was to explore the effect that belief in, and exposure to, conspiracy theories have on political violence and intergroup relations, with the latter focused on violent reactions and jury bias towards marginalised groups. Study 1 (N = 202) first demonstrated that conspiracy beliefs predicted political violence and, extending previous research, how the relationship held even when controlling for a measure of aggression. Study 2 (N = 138) then employed an experimental design, and despite finding that participants exposed to immigrant conspiracy theories (vs control) recorded higher conspiracy beliefs, there was no direct impact of conspiracy exposure on political violence. However, in Studies 3 (n = 160) and 4 (N = 211), intergroup conspiracy exposure (vs control) did lead to increased violent reactions towards minority groups (immigrants and Muslim immigrants), but only for individuals with high Right-Wing Authoritarianism (Study 3) and Social Dominance Orientation (Studies 3 and 4). These findings demonstrated that conspiracy exposure can affect violent reactions towards groups perceived as conspirators but that these effects are conditional on certain individual differences. Next, exploring the broader consequences of conspiracy theories, Studies 5 and 6 examined whether the negative consequences toward target groups could be extended to the context of juror decision-making when jurors assess the guilt of a (perceived ‘conspiratorial’) defendant. In Study 5 (n = 247), conspiracy beliefs were found to predict subjective likelihood of guilt scores toward Muslim immigrants and British defendants. Furthermore, in Study 6 (n = 219), mock jurors rated perceived Muslim immigrant defendants (vs British) as less likely to be rehabilitated, and this effect was conditional on Muslim immigrant conspiracy beliefs. Overall, the novel empirical work presented in this thesis demonstrates the negative effects of conspiracy beliefs on political violence and jury decision-making and groups perceived as conspirators.