Location
Culp Center Ballroom
Start Date
4-25-2023 9:00 AM
End Date
4-25-2023 11:00 AM
Poster Number
70
Faculty Sponsor’s Department
Sociology & Anthropology
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Joseph Baker
Competition Type
Non-Competitive
Type
Poster Presentation
Project's Category
Sociology
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Apocalypticism is the belief in an impending large-scale catastrophic event that would threaten the survival of the human race. Despite the high level of apocalypticism among American adults, there has been little empirical research conducted to determine whether this proclivity is socially consequential. Conspiracism, a related factor, is widely studied empirically and is associated with many negative societal effects. Though research suggests a possible correlation between these variables, empirical research has not examined whether apocalypticism is a robust predictor of conspiracism. I hypothesize and test whether apocalypticism is predictive of belief in conspiracy theories using data from the 2018 Chapman Survey of American Fears, a nationally representative sample of American adults. From this data a multi-item conspiracism index was created and analyzed in relation with a measure of belief in apocalypticism. Regression analyses show that apocalyptic belief is the strongest predictor of conspiracism within the model, surpassing sociodemographic, political and religious characteristics. These results demonstrate that apocalypticism is an important factor to consider when studying conspiracism, and suggests that future researchers should further investigate apocalypticism using a variety of social scientific methods.
Apocalypticism as a Predictor of Conspiracism Among American Adults
Culp Center Ballroom
Apocalypticism is the belief in an impending large-scale catastrophic event that would threaten the survival of the human race. Despite the high level of apocalypticism among American adults, there has been little empirical research conducted to determine whether this proclivity is socially consequential. Conspiracism, a related factor, is widely studied empirically and is associated with many negative societal effects. Though research suggests a possible correlation between these variables, empirical research has not examined whether apocalypticism is a robust predictor of conspiracism. I hypothesize and test whether apocalypticism is predictive of belief in conspiracy theories using data from the 2018 Chapman Survey of American Fears, a nationally representative sample of American adults. From this data a multi-item conspiracism index was created and analyzed in relation with a measure of belief in apocalypticism. Regression analyses show that apocalyptic belief is the strongest predictor of conspiracism within the model, surpassing sociodemographic, political and religious characteristics. These results demonstrate that apocalypticism is an important factor to consider when studying conspiracism, and suggests that future researchers should further investigate apocalypticism using a variety of social scientific methods.