We tested the link between COVID-19 conspiracy theories and health protective behaviours in three studies: one at the onset of the pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK), a second just before the first national lockdown, and a third during that lockdown (N = 302, 404 and 399). We focused on conspiracy theories that did not deny the existence of COVID-19 and evaluated the extent to which they predicted a range of health protective behaviours, before and after controlling for psychological and sociodemographic characteristics associated with conspiracy theory belief. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were positively correlated with beliefs in other unrelated conspiracies and a general conspiracy mind-set, and negatively correlated with trust in government and a tendency towards analytical thinking (vs. intuitive thinking). Unexpectedly, COVID-19 conspiracy believers adhered to basic health guidelines and advanced health protective measures as strictly as non-believers. Conspiracy believers were, however, less willing to install the contact-tracing app, get tested for and vaccinated against COVID-19, and were more likely to share COVID-19 misinformation—all of which might undermine public health initiatives. Study 3 showed conspiracy theory believers were less willing to undertake health protective behaviours that were outside of their personal control, perceiving these as having a negative balance of risks and benefits. We discuss models explaining conspiracy beliefs and health protective behaviours, and suggest practical recommendations for public health initiatives.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 阴谋是否对公共健康构成威胁？信徒心理特征及健康防护行为


我们在三项研究中测试了 COVID-19 阴谋论与健康保护行为之间的联系：一项是在英国 (UK) 大流行爆发时进行的，第二项是在第一次全国封锁之前进行的，第三项是在封锁期间进行的 ( N = 302、404 和 399）。我们重点研究了不否认 COVID-19 存在的阴谋论，并评估了它们在控制与阴谋论信仰相关的心理和社会人口特征之前和之后预测一系列健康保护行为的程度。 COVID-19 阴谋信念与对其他不相关阴谋的信念和一般阴谋心态呈正相关，与对政府的信任和分析思维（相对于直觉思维）的倾向呈负相关。出乎意料的是，COVID-19阴谋论信徒和非信徒一样严格遵守基本健康准则和先进的健康防护措施。然而，阴谋论者不太愿意安装接触者追踪应用程序、接受 COVID-19 检测和疫苗接种，并且更有可能分享 COVID-19 错误信息——所有这些都可能会破坏公共卫生举措。研究3显示，阴谋论信徒不太愿意采取超出个人控制范围的健康保护行为，认为这些行为具有风险和收益的负平衡。我们讨论解释阴谋信仰和健康保护行为的模型，并为公共卫生举措提出实用建议。