Conspiracy theories and dissociative experiences: The role of personality and paranormal beliefs

Charlton, Emily (2014) Conspiracy theories and dissociative experiences: The role of personality and paranormal beliefs. Manchester Metropolitan University. (Unpublished)

Preview

Available under License In Copyright. Download (224kB) | Preview

Abstract

The present paper investigated whether a link between belief in conspiracy theories and dissociative experiences existed as both are endorsed by paranormal belief. The present paper also sought to support previous research on the relationship between the Big Five personality traits, conspiratorial beliefs, paranormal beliefs and dissociative experiences. Participants (N = 117, M = 20.84 years) completed measures assessing the Big Five personality measures (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness), paranormal belief, belief in conspiracy theories and proneness to dissociative experiences. Higher belief in conspiracy theories positively correlated with dissociative experiences (r=.64, n = 117, p = <.001); supporting the notion that conspiracy beliefs have a direct link to dissociative experiences. Additionally, similar personality measures correlated with conspiracy belief, paranormal belief and dissociative experiences; agreeableness negatively correlated, whilst neuroticism, openness and conscientiousness positively correlated across the three scales. This research demonstrates that paranormal belief, conspiracy belief and dissociative experiences are associated to one another and have similar commonalities.