1 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING Abstract
The current COVID-19 pandemic has changed many people’s lives. Some people have responded to the rising of the pandemic by engaging in panic buying behaviors, a phenomenon that has not been well-understood in the past. People who believe in these conspiracies may experience a heightened sense of powerlessness and vulnerability. As a result, they may be particularly susceptible to palliatively and compensatorily engage in the panic buying behaviors (i.e., stockpiling). Supporting this idea, two studies using data from the U.K. (cross-sectional) and the U.S. (longitudinal) show that people who endorse COVID-19 conspiracy theories are more likely to engage in stockpiling behaviors in the past as well as in the future.
Keywords: Conspiracy theories, stockpiling, panic buying, COVID-19, pandemic 2 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING
Who Bought All the Toilet Paper? Conspiracy Theorists Are More Likely to
Stockpile During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The current COVID-19 pandemic has palpably changed many people’s lives worldwide. As a response to these unprecedented uncertainties, some are flocking to popular tourist destinations to take advantage of deeply discounted airfare and hotels (e.g., Kessler, 2020).
Others, however, are spending their money on stockpiling cleaning products, shelf-stable food, and sanitation products, leaving the supply chain strained due to the spike in demand (Reuters, 2020). These sudden changes in consumer behavior are adding unexpected challenges to the battle against the pandemic. Yet, as a psychological response to a rapidly changing environment, there is surprisingly little known about the psychological antecedents and motivations behind panic buying behaviors.
The current studies present evidence that people who endorse conspiracies related to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic are more likely to engage in panic buying behaviors.
Stockpiling in Past Literature
As a psychological phenomenon, literature on behaviors related to panic buying tends to be compartmentalized into different fields with very different theoretical and methodological perspectives. For instance, 3 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING traditional economic/marketing approaches tend to investigate the causes of stockpiling in terms of variables related to a product (e.g., pricing and availability), modeling buyers as rational actors (Helsen, & Schmittlein,
1992; Bell, Iyer, & Padmanabhan, 2002; Shou, Xiong, & Shen, 2013)1. In the public health literature, the behavior of stockpiling essential household items during disasters is often studied as part of an aggregated “emergency preparedness” variable, and these studies primarily focus on stockpiling’s relationship with demographic variables (see Kohn et al, 2012). In psychological literature, though excessive purchasing behaviors have been studied extensively in the past, the focus tends to be about excessive purchasing as a trait itself (e.g., compulsive buying tendency) as opposed to buying in response to social changes (e.g., Christenson et al., 1994). It remains poorly understood who, psychologically speaking, tends to engage in panic buying behaviors from the existing research that is relatively compartmentalized in different fields.
Conspiracy Theories in the Past Studies
Many studies in the past primarily study the theoretical antecedents of beliefs in conspiracy theories. From psychopathological perspectives, beliefs in conspiracy theories was found to be related to schizoptypy and paranoid ideation (e.g., Barron et al., 2014; Darwin, 2011; Freeman et al,
2005; Holm, 2009; Grzesiak-Feldman & Ejsmont, 2008; Imhoff & Lamberty,
1 It should also be acknowledged that in marketing research, there is a moderate amount of research about the role of personality and traits in consumers’ purchasing behaviors (e.g., see Sandy, Gosling, & Durant, 2013 for related discussions). However, these studies tend to focus on who likes to buy what, as opposed to who will (panic) buy things in general during a crisis. This paper by topic focuses on the latter. 4 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING 2018). Cognitively, studies reveal that conspiracy thinking is undergirded by thinking styles that overdraw causal connections (van der Wal, 2018 et al.) with inflated confidence (Vitriol & Marsh, 2018). In social psychology research, beliefs in conspiracy theories was found to be associated with group identity (Chayinska & Minescu, 2018), perceived threat to a society’s fundamental values (Federico et al., 2018), as well as right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation (e.g., Swami, 2012).
Though past studies have investigated the consequences of beliefs in conspiracy theories, these studies tend to focus on the effects in the domains of beliefs and attitudes (e.g., Chayinska & Minescu, 2018;
Lewandowsky et al, 2013a; Lewandowsky et al, 2013b; Van der Linden,
2015). Less is known about the behavioral consequences of conspiracy endorsement.
Conspiracies related to COVID-19
During the current pandemic, one line of conspiracy theories that has gained a substantial amount of attention is about the origin of the
COVID-19 pandemic (Economist, 2020). One version is that the new coronavirus was developed in a Chinese “superlaboratory," which has primarily been insinuated in right-leaning medias in the U.S. In another version, the pandemic occurred because the U.S. government deployed coronavirus as a biological weapon in China, which has been widely discussed on Chinese-language internet platforms. In both cases, the implication is that the coronavirus pandemic was created by deliberate 5 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING efforts for political gain. Nonetheless, it remains unclear what are potential societal impacts of the spread and endorsement of these conspiracy theories.
There are several characteristics of these conspiracy theories that render beliefs in them to warrant special attention from researchers. First, as a set of beliefs related to life and death of many people in the ongoing global pandemic, the effects of these conspiracy theories are ongoing and can palpably shape the daily lives of many people. Furthermore, these conspiracy theories are also particularly prevailing. In one study, about 22 percent of Americans were estimated to “believe that COVID-19 was purposefully created in a lab” (Motta et al., 2020). Finally, these conspiracy theories have a very pessimistic narrative which may render their believers to feel particularly vulnerable. Reviewing past research on conspiracy theories, many conspiracy theories are undergirded by the narrative that a government has looked away or has covered up something unseemly to protect the ruling class (e.g., “Obama was not born in the U.S.”; e.g., see
Miller, Saunders, & Farhart, 2015; Silva, Vegetti, & Littvay, 2017; Craft,
Ashley, & Maksl, 2017). The conspiracies related to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, reflect a belief that a government is willingly engaging in a potentially uncontainable bioterrorism at the expense of the lives of its own citizens as well as people from the rest of the world. Due to the particularly pessimistic and perhaps apocalyptic assumption about why the pandemic occurred, people who believe in these conspiracy theories in 6 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING particular may feel a disproportionally heightened sense of vulnerability and insecurity.
COVID-19 Conspiracies and Stockpiling Behaviors
People who endorse conspiracies may experience a heightened sense of powerlessness and vulnerability (e.g., see Hofstadter, 1965; Whitson &
Galinksy, 2008) and become susceptible to panic reaction in response to threats (according to Drury, Novelli, & Stott, 2013, panic itself is a
“representation of psychosocial vulnerability”). As a result, people who endorse conspiracies may be particularly motivated to engage in behaviors that can reduce their perceived powerlessness (e.g., Brehm, 1966).
Consistent with this, past studies show that endorsement in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories predicts reduced intention to vaccinate, and this effect is mediated by feelings of dangers and powerlessness (Jolly & Doglas,
2014). Panic buying behaviors have been theorized as a way to regain a sense of security (e.g., Arafat et al, 2020). Thus, in the current COVID-19 pandemic, people who endorse conspiracy theories may be particularly likely to palliatively and compensatorily engage in the panic buying behaviors. The current studies therefore attempt to investigate this relationship.
Current Studies
Though recent data suggest that endorsement of conspiracies related to COVID-19 are associated with “perceptual” consequences, such as mistrust of the CDC’s warning about the pandemic (Motta, 2020), less is 7 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING known about its behavioral consequences. Based on the theoretical discussions above, this paper focuses on the hypothesis that endorsement of conspiracies related to the origin of COVID-19 (“which will be referred to as
COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement” below) is associated with stockpiling behaviors. This hypothesis is tested by investigating the association between COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement and stockpiling behaviors that people have engaged in previously, based on their recall, and the stockpiling behaviors that they would engage in the future, based on their subsequent report of their behaviors. The current studies rely on a sample from the U.K. (Study 1), and a sample from the U.S. (Study 2). The measures used in the studies are relatively similar across the two studies, so the method, results and discussions are described in combination. All data, analytical code, raw output, materials, tables, and appendices from both studies can be found at https://osf.io/aucdp/? view_only=0b72dd7478e2415690ef5ef5d3231369. The data used in both studies is part of larger studies that include several measures that intended to test several different hypotheses. Study 1, but not Study 2, was pre- registered and its pre-registration form can be found at https://osf.io/vuzn2/?view_only=4b2c6b17838e4f25b6c162ccc408cdb62.
Method
2 In the pre-registration form, it also states that the study will test the hypothesis that the relationship between COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement and stockpiling behavior is stronger for people with more income. However, this hypothesis is not supported in Study 2, though there is some support for it in Study 1. These results are reported in online Appendix A. 8 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING Participants from both studies were recruited from Prolific. In the final sample that includes partial submissions, Study 1 had a total of 825 entries from British participants (513 females, 303 males, 9 other/missing, mean age=42.05, SDage=12.94) who responded to the survey on the date of March 30th 2020. Study 2 had a total of 843 entries from American participants (392 females, 424 males, 27 other/missing, mean age=35.07,
SDage=13.39). Study 2 participants in responded to surveys distributed at three waves, and they responded to the wave 1 survey on March 25th 2020
(N=843), wave 2 survey from March 27th to April 1st, 2020 (N=760), and wave 3 survey from April 12th to April 24th, 2020 (N=745).
Endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracies, the key independent variable, was measured with a scale of 3 items, which was designed by the author, based on the popular conspiracies that the author found in the news
(e.g., see Economist, 2020). The items begin with the instruction “How likely do you think the following statements are true?” The statements are
“The coronavirus was developed in a Chinese “superlaboratory,” “The coronavirus pandemic was created from deliberate efforts for political gain,” and “The US government deployed coronavirus as a biological weapon in China.” The response ranges from 1=Not true at all to 7=
Definitely true. This scale displays a relatively acceptable psychometric properties also see more in the results and discussion section). In Study 2, this scale was measured in the wave 2 survey. 9 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING Stockpiling behaviors, the key dependent variable, was measured with a scale designed by the author as well. It consists of six items beginning with the instruction "Since the outbreak of COVID-19, to what degree have you been stockpiling the following categories of items?" and the items are 1. shelf stable food (e.g., canned food, dry pasta), 2. Fresh produce (e.g., fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs), 3. Weaponry (e.g., guns, bullets)3, 4. Toilet paper, 5. Sanitizing products (e.g., disinfectant wipes, Purell), and 6.
Substances (e.g., alcohol and cigarettes). The response anchors from 1=Not at all, 5 =As much as you can. In Study 2, this scale was measured in the wave 1 survey and the wave 3 survey. In the wave 3 survey, the phrase
“Since the outbreak of COVID-19” in the instruction was replaced with
“Since you answered last survey, (i.e. in the last two weeks or so).”
Therefore, this measure in the U.K. study and the wave 1 of the U.S. study is an operationalization of participants’ past stockpiling behaviors, and this measure in the wave 3 of the U.S. study is an operationalization of participants’ future stockpiling behaviors. This scale displays a relatively acceptable psychometric property (α=.82 in Study 1, α=.80 for wave 1 and
α=.84 for wave 2 in Study 2).
Results
Descriptives and zero-order correlations
Before analysis, all variables were rescaled to run from 0 to 1 such that 1 represents the highest level of that construct. Table 1 (US study) and
3In the British sample, it states “Weaponry (e.g., guns, bullets, knives).” 10 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING Table 2 (UK study) describe the mean, standard deviation, and correlations of all variables used in the model. The correlations between the items that comprise the endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracies scale and the stockpiling behaviors scale are described in Figure 1 (U.K. study) and
Figure 2 (U.S. study).
Modeling stockpiling behaviors
Past stockpiling behaviors. To test the relationship between COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement and stockpiling behaviors, two sets of regression analyses were conducted. The first set of analyses tests if COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement is associated with past stockpiling behaviors. Two linear regression analyses use the COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement variable to predict the past stockpiling behaviors variable using data from the U.K. sample as well as the U.S. sample. The analyses also include several control variables, which are participants’ gender, age, education, income4, ideology, party identification5, need for cognition (Cacioppo &
Petty, 1982), and an item that measures participants’ perception that
COVID-19 is a real threat (the wording for these questions can be found in online Appendix B). The results are summarized in Table 3. The analyses were also conducted separately for each stockpiling behavior and the
4 Due to a setup error for the U.K. study, there were 210 participants whose income variable was not collected. 5 For the U.S. study, it is measured as a continuous scale that ranges from 1=Strong Democrat to 7= Strong Republican (they were then recoded to run from 0 to 1 as indicated in the main text). For the U.K. study, it is an item that asked participants to select from a list of major parties in U.K. and two indicator variables were created for Conservative party (coded as 1 for Labour indicator) and Labour party (coded as 1 for Conservative indicator) affiliation, and affiliation with other parties were coded as 0 in these indicator variables. 11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING results were similar—the key term for endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracies is significant throughout the models (see Table C3a and Table
C3b in Appendix C).
Future stockpiling behaviors. In order to derive a better causal inference about the effect of COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement on stockpiling behaviors, a second set of analyses tests if COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement is associated with future stockpiling behaviors. These models use the data from the U.S. study. The first model is similar to the models described above except that the predicted variable is the future stockpiling behaviors (i.e., the wave 3 measure for stockpile behaviors). The second model is similar to the first one, but it controls for wave 1 measure for stockpiling behaviors in addition to all other predictors as a more robust model for the independent variable’s effect. These two models are described in Table 4.
Robustness check. Finally, though the study involving the U.K. sample does not include any additional measures, the study of the U.S. sample includes various individual differences variables related to uncertainty management (i.e., need for closure and threat sensitivity), beliefs about social orders (i.e., social dominance orientation and authoritarianism), as well as attitudes toward governments’ management of the pandemic.
Furthermore, this data also has the number of COVID-19 cases at participants’ residential states6. To rule out alternative explanations for the
6 This was realized by merging the survey data with the number of cases that Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded for each state on the day that participants filled out the portion of survey that includes stockpiling behaviors (retrieved from 12 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING association between COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement and stockpiling behaviors, additional analyses for the U.S. study were conducted to include these variables as additional covariates as a more stringent test for the theory. The results are reported in Table D1 in the Appendix D, and the key term for endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracies remains significant, b=.15,
S.E.=.04, partial η2=2.44%, p<.001 for wave 1 stockpiling measure, b=.17,
S.E.=.04, partial η2=3.11%, p<.001 for wave 2 stockpiling measure, and b=.08, S.E.=.03, partial η2=1.16%, p=.006 for wave 2 stockpiling measure controlling for wave 1 stockpiling measure.
Discussion
Modeling Stockpiling Behaviors
Main hypothesis. Reviewing the correlation tables, conspiracy theory endorsement is correlated with stockpiling behavior in both studies, regardless of the wave of stockpiling measures. These results present preliminary evidence that people who endorse the COVID-19 conspiracies tend to stockpile more in the past as well as in the future across the two national contexts. Reviewing the regression tables, across the models, the term for conspiracy theory endorsement is significant. Mirroring the above- mentioned correlations, these results suggest that people who find the
COVID-19 conspiracies believable tend to not only stockpile goods in the past (shown in Table 3), but also do so in the future (Table 4), even after controlling for self-reported baseline stockpiling behaviors (see the model
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html) 13 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING on the right side of Table 4). Like the correlations, this pattern was found among Americans as well as British people. Furthermore, additional analyses reveal that this pattern holds across the type of goods that people stockpile (see Appendix C). Therefore, overall, the hypothesis that COVID-
19 conspiracies endorsement predicts stockpiling behaviors is confirmed.
Other covariates. Reviewing other covariates in Table 3, though gender, age, need for cognition and believing that COVID-19 is a real threat are significant predictors for past stockpiling behaviors in the U.S. model, they are not significant in the U.K. model (though the last of which is marginally significant). Reviewing the other covariates in Table 4, only gender and age remain significant as predictors for future stockpiling behaviors, and when controlling for stockpiling behaviors in the past, only gender remains significant (though education became marginally significant). Thus, other than stockpiling behaviors in the past, which explains almost half of variances in stockpiling behaviors in the future,
COVID-19 conspiracy endorsement is one of few only significant predictors for stockpiling behaviors, testifying its effect’s robustness (also see Table
D1 in Appendix D, which reveals that no other predictor is significant).
Discussions about the Descriptives and Other Correlations
Reviewing Figure 1, Figure 2, and the correlation tables, the average levels of conspiracy endorsement as well as stockpiling behaviors are relatively low. Their distributions are also skewed somewhat positively. 14 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING This suggests that, at least among these samples, on average, people do not find the conspiratorial explanations for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic very probable. Furthermore, most people across the two studies engaged in some level of stockpiling behaviors: in the U.K. study, there were 582 participants who indicated that they stockpiled, and in the U.S. study, there were 694 participants at wave 1, and 595 participants at wave
2, who indicated that they stockpiled (i.e., by responding to at least one item for stockpiling with something other than “Not at all”). However, reviewing the distribution of the stockpiling items in Figure 1 and Figure 2, it seems that most participants were engaging in stockpiling behaviors but were not doing so very aggressively. Therefore, these descriptives suggest that though most people are not firm believers of these conspiracies, they are still sufficiently motivated to stockpile.
These correlations also reveal that there is a partisan divide regarding people’s perception of the seriousness of the pandemic as well as the endorsement of the conspiracy theories. In particular, people who are affiliated with the more liberal and non-governing party (i.e., Democrats in the U.S. and Labour party members in the U.K.) tend to believe that the pandemic is a real threat, which is consistent with recent data on this topic
(e.g., see Green & Tyson, 2020 for related discussion). Furthermore, though
Republicans in the U.S. are more likely to believe in these conspiracy theories, neither members of the Labour nor Conservative party in the U.K. are more or less likely to believe them than members of other parties. This 15 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING suggests that it is possible that Republican participants have taken cues from Republican political elites and right-leaning media in the U.S. where the conspiracies originated (Firozi, 2020; also see van Bavel, 2020 for related discussion). Though believing that COVID-19 is a real threat is counterintuitively related to the conspiracy variable in a negative fashion, this pattern is consistent with recent data that shows people who endorse the conspiracies related to COVID-19 believe that the health risk of COVID-
19 is exaggerated (Motta, 2020).
Reviewing Figure 1 and Figure 2, the correlation between individual conspiracy endorsement items are significantly positive across both the
American sample and the British sample. This is in spite of the fact that one conspiracy (item 1) portrays China as a perpetrator and the other (item 3) portrays China as a victim of the pandemic. This suggests that people who find one type of COVID-19 related conspiracy plausible tend to find any other conspiratorial causes of the pandemic plausible as well. Furthermore, in Study 2, a latent variable analysis was also conducted, and the results show that the three items similarly load on a latent factor across participants with different partisan backgrounds. These analyses can be found in Appendix E. These results are consistent with recent findings that conspiracy beliefs in general (Wood et al., 2012) and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in particular (Miller, 2020) tend to be monological (i.e., conspiracy theorists’ beliefs in individual conspiracies that are logically inconsistent with each other are “held together” by a higher-order belief 16 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING system; also see Georgiou et al., 2020). Finally, the correlations between individual items associated with stockpiling behaviors are all significant across both the American sample and the British sample. This suggests that people who are willing to stockpile during the current pandemic tend to stockpile everything--except weapons, which has a more skewed distribution and smaller correlation coefficients with other stockpiling behaviors.
Panic Buying or Thoughtful Preparation?
Do the stockpiling behaviors investigated in this paper reflect the
“panic buying” that the media describes (e.g.,Reuters, 2020) or more thoughtful preparation described in disaster preparedness literature (e.g.,
Kohn, et al, 2012)? Of course, stockpiling behaviors may not always be motivated by a conspiratorial sense of vulnerability--people may stockpile goods for very practical and advisable reasons, such as preparing for an unpredictable natural disaster that has a reasonable chance for jeopardizing people’s physical access to stores (Kohn et al., 2012). However, under the current COVID-19 pandemic, the “thoughtful preparation” description does not seem to be a better characterization of stockpiling behavior than “panic buying” because many participants openly acknowledge that their stockpiling behaviors were driven by “panic.” In both studies, participants were asked “If you have been stockpiling any items mentioned above, to what degree would you say that your stockpiling of the items above was driven by panic?” on a page after their response to the stockpiling behavior 17 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING items. Among people who stockpiled across samples7, there were 327
British and 322 American who indicated “Not at all,” 213 British and 339
American who indicated “Somewhat,” and 42 British and 32 American who indicated “Very much so.” Thus, at least for a substantial subset of participants, the behaviors described as “panic buying” in the media (e.g.,
Reuters, 2020) seem appropriate.
Implications, Limitations, and Future Directions
Past literature about conspiracy theory endorsement primarily investigates its antecedents, addressing questions such as what leads to beliefs in conspiracy theories (see above, also see Miller et al., 2015 for related discussion). However, what behaviors belief in conspiracy may lead to is still underexplored in past literature. This paper contributes to the literature by identifying one potential consequence for believing in conspiracy theories: people who endorse conspiracy theories may be more likely to engage in panic buying behaviors during a pandemic. Thus, this paper contributes to the literature by pointing out a psychological explanation to an economic phenomenon that has gathered much attention in the media lately.
One key limitation of the study is the non-experimental approach employed in the study design. In order to better establish the causal relationship between endorsement of COVID-19 related conspiracies and stockpiling behaviors, it will be useful to experimentally manipulate people’s conspiracy beliefs. However, moving one’s conspiracy beliefs may 7 i.e., among the 694 American and 582 British participants mentioned above. 18 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING be challenging, practically and ethically. In particular, manipulating people to become less willing to endorse conspiracies may be difficult since conspiracy theories are practically unfalsifiable. In this vein, past research shows that experimental procedures that labeling conspiracy theories as conspiracy theories are not effective at making the conspiracy theories less believable (Wood, 2016). Manipulating people to be more willing to endorse conspiracies, should they prove to be effective, may pose ethical challenges, given that it may lead to undesirable societal outcomes. This paper presents evidence by relying on robust model specifications to rule out alternative explanations. Future research, however, should consider addressing the limitation by using experimental methods that can overcome the challenges described above to better test the causal relationship assumed in this paper.
Conclusion
The current COVID-19 pandemic has visibly changed many people’s lives and behaviors. Many people have chosen to respond to the pandemic by engaging in panic buying behaviors, a phenomenon that is not well- understood. This paper presents evidence that the endorsement of conspiracies related to the COVID-19 pandemic may contribute to the panic buying activities that we witness today. 19 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING
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29 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING 30 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING
Figure 1. Distribution and Correlations between Conspiracy Theory Endorsement Items and Stockpiling Items for U.K. study. Note. the lower left triangle is a matrix that describes the correlations between the items, and the upper right triangle provides the visualization of the correlations. The diagonal provides the distribution of the items. ***p<0.001, ** p<0.01, * p<0.05. 31 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING
Figure 2. Distribution and Correlations between Conspiracy Theory Endorsement Items and Stockpiling Items for U.S. sample. Note. the lower left right triangle is a matrix that describes the correlations between the items, and the upper right triangle provides the visualization of the correlations. The diagonal provides the distribution of the items. ***p<0.001, ** p<0.01, * p<0.05. 32 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING
Appendix A 33 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING Appendix B
This appendix describes all the measures used in the models. All variables were created by unweighted average of the items. Items marked with “R” are reverse coded.
Need for cognition was measured with a scale consists of the following items guided by the instruction below.
Some people prefer to solve simple problems instead of complex ones, whereas other people prefer to solve more complex problems. Which type of problem do you prefer to solve? Simple or Complex? (1= Extremely uncharacteristic of me; 5= Extremely characteristic of me)
I would prefer complex to simple problems. I like to have the responsibility of handling a situation that requires a lot of thinking. Thinking is not my idea of fun. R I would rather do something that requires little thought than something that is sure to challenge my thinking abilities. R I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems. I would prefer a task that is intellectual, difficult, and important to one that is somewhat important but does not require much thought.
Whether participants think COVID-19 is a real threat as opposed to something that is blown out of proportion is measured with one item below:
To what extend do YOU PERSONALLY think that the COVID-19 pandemic is a real threat or blown out of proportion? (1=a real threat; 7=blown out of proportion)
* The measures below are used for stringent specification
Need for closure was measured with a scale consists of the following items guided by the instruction below.
Please state the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. (1=Strongly disagree; 7=strongly agree)
I don’t like situations that are uncertain. I dislike questions which could be answered in many different ways. I find that a well ordered life with regular hours suits my temperament. I feel uncomfortable when I don’t understand the reason why an event occurred in my life. 34 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING I feel irritated when one person disagrees with what everyone else in a group believes. I don’t like to go into a situation without knowing what I can expect from it. When I have made a decision, I feel relieved. I would quickly become impatient and irritated if I would not find a solution to a problem immediately. I don’t like to be with people who are capable of unexpected actions. I dislike it when a person’s statement could mean many different things. I find that establishing a consistent routine enables me to enjoy life more. I enjoy having a clear and structured mode of life. I do not usually consult many different opinions before forming my own view. I dislike unpredictable situations.
Threat sensitivity was measured with a scale consists of the following items guided by the instruction below. (1=Very true for me; 6=Very false for me)
Even if something bad is about to happen to me, I rarely experience fear or nervousness. R Criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit. I feel pretty worried or upset when I think or know somebody is angry at me. If I think something unpleasant is going to happen I usually get pretty “worked up.” I feel worried when I think I have done poorly at something important. I have very few fears compared to my friends. R I worry about making mistakes.
Social dominance orientation was measured with a scale consists of the following items guided by the instruction below. (1= Strongly Oppose; 7= Strongly Favor)
An ideal society requires some groups to be on top and others to be on the bottom. Some groups of people are simply inferior to other groups. No one group should dominate in society. R Groups at the bottom are just as deserving as groups at the top. R Group equality should not be our primary goal. It is unjust to try to make groups equal. We should do what we can to equalize conditions for different groups. R We should work to give all groups an equal chance to succeed. R
Authoritarianism was measured with a scale consists of the following items guided by the instruction below 35 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING
Please read each pair of qualities that children might have, and indicate which of the two is the most desirable quality for a child to have. (1= the first choice; 2= the second choice)
Independence or respect for elders? Independence Respect for elders
Obedience or self-reliance? R Obedience Self-reliance
Curiosity or good manners? Curiosity Good manners?
Being considerate or well-behaved? Being considerate Well-behaved?
Attitude toward governments’ management of the pandemic was measured with a scale consists of the following items guided by the instruction below. (1= Extremely ineffective; 7= Extremely effective)
How effective do you think the following's responses to the out-break of COVID-19?
Federal government The government of your state 36 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING Appendix C 37 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING 38 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING 39 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING Appendix D
Table D1 40 CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND STOCKPILING Appendix E