From Exposure to Intentions: How the Need to Evaluate Shapes the Impact of Conspiracy Theories on Behavioural Intentions

Exposure to conspiracy theories has been shown to affect behavioural intentions across domains. We investigated in different contexts (climate change, vaccination) when and why this happens, focussing on the mediating role of conspiracy beliefs and the moderating role of individual differences in the need to evaluate (the tendency to engage in evaluative responding when exposed to objects or issues). We expected that for individuals with a high need to evaluate, exposure to conspiracy theories should affect evaluative responses in the form of behavioural intentions more strongly compared to those with a low need to evaluate. In study 1 (N = 221), exposure to a conspiracy narrative increased conspiracy beliefs, which then affected behavioural intentions towards a familiar attitude object, but only for those with a high (vs. low) need to evaluate. In study 2 (N = 351), the indirect effect of conspiracy exposure on behavioural intentions towards an unfamiliar attitude object via conspiracy beliefs was not moderated by the need to evaluate. However, the need to evaluate moderated the direct effect, such that conspiracy exposure affected intentions only for those with a high (vs. low) need to evaluate. The differing nature of the moderating effect between studies could be explained by intention formation processes being affected by attitude object familiarity, which differed between studies. Overall, these studies shed light on the process by which conspiracy exposure affects intention formation and demonstrate that behavioural intentions are only influenced by conspiracy exposure for people with a high (vs. low) need to evaluate.