Ashraf Sadat Ahadzadeh|Fon Sim Ong|Shin Ling Wu
Social media skepticism and belief in conspiracy theories about COVID-19: the moderating role of the dark triad
Xiamen University Malaysia|University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus|Sunway University
prevalence conspiracy theories covid19 wideopen social media environment raised considerable concerns adverse effects believing theories previous work showed skepticism negatively associated acceptance media content however association yet investigated skepticism towards content social media conviction covid19 conspiracy theories furthermore association function social media users dark triad traits comprising machiavellianism narcissism psychopathy convenient sample 439 malaysian young adult social media users recruited complete survey results showed skepticism negative relationship belief conspiracy theories covid19 however strength relationship varied depending respondents machiavellianism narcissism levels negative association skepticism belief covid19 conspiracy theories weaker individuals high scores machiavellianism high moderate scores narcissism also found diminish negative relationship skepticism covid19 conspiracy ideation results yield implications enhancing healthy skepticism mitigate belief conspiracy theories promulgated social media nonetheless machiavellianism narcissism appeared weaken power skepticism conspiracy theories