Georgiou, Neophytos2020-11-292020-11-292018http://hdl.handle.net/2440/129139This item is only available electronically.Belief in conspiracy theories (CTs) has been associated with a range of negative health, civic, and social outcomes. As a result, much of the existing literature has been concerned with identifying the causes of CT belief. However, whilst most research has been preoccupied with debates concerning its causes, it has failed to: a) address the use of problematic methodology derived from convenience sampling, and b) include standardised methods to test for the susceptibility of decision-making biases argued to underline CT beliefs. The aims of the present study were to investigate the validity of psychopathological and socio-cognitive explanations for people’s susceptibility to CT beliefs in a sample drawn from the wider internet community, and to examine whether greater CT belief was associated to cognitive biases such as the Jumping-to-Conclusions (JTC) bias, and Bias Against Disconfirmatory Evidence (BADE). A cross-sectional correlational design was employed in which a sample of 375 participants completed a battery of psychological assessments. This included measures of psychopathological, socio-cognitive, and demographic factors, along with two measures of CT belief. Participants subsequently completed two tasks which captured the JTC bias and BADE. Individuals who held high CT belief were more likely to exhibit psychopathological tendencies, and in turn were less likely to engage in analytical thinking, rendering them more susceptible to the BADE and JTC bias. Future research should endeavour to investigate the contribution of other at-risk mental states that cause psychopathological tendencies (i.e. delusion-proneness) that are associated to CT belief, and further replicate the findings of prior literature which applied problematic methodology.Honours; PsychologyThesis