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Refusing to Pay Taxes: Loneliness, Conspiracy Theorising and Non-Normative Political Action
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Description: Abstract: Conspiracy beliefs can motivate non-normative political intentions (e.g., refusing to pay taxes and violence). However, less is known about the contributors of these conspiracy-inspired intentions or if they translate into actual behaviours. Two studies (N = 1,155) found that loneliness predicted conspiracy beliefs, which were then associated with non-normative political intentions. Study 3 (n = 234) provided further evidence of these relationships through serial mediations: participants who remembered a lonely experience (vs. control) reported feeling lonelier, which positively predicted conspiracy beliefs that were then linked with non-normative intentions and a novel behavioural measure (refusing to pay an actual tax). Our studies provide consistent evidence that loneliness is linked to conspiracy beliefs and non-normative actions.