Conspiracy mentality, subclinical paranoia, and political conservatism are associated with perceived status threat

Abstract

Status threat (i.e., concern that one's dominant social group will be undermined by outsiders) is a significant factor in current United States politics. While demographic factors such as race (e.g., Whiteness) and political affiliation (e.g., conservatism) tend to be associated with heightened levels of status threat, its psychological facets have yet to be fully characterized. Informed by a "paranoid" model of American politics, we explored a suite of possible psychological and demographic associates of perceived status threat, including race/ethnicity, political conservatism, analytic thinking, magical ideation, subclinical paranoia, and conspiracy mentality. In a small, quota sample drawn from the United States (N = 300), we found that conspiracy mentality, subclinical paranoia, conservatism, and age were each positively (and uniquely) associated with status threat. In addition to replicating past work linking conservatism to status threat, this study identifies subclinical paranoia and conspiracy mentality as novel psychological associates of status threat. These findings pave the way for future research regarding how and why status threat concerns may become exaggerated in certain individuals, possibly to the detriment of personal and societal wellbeing.

Fig 1. Perceived status threat as a function of conspiracy mentality (CMQ score), subclinical paranoia (R-GPTS-B score), and political affiliation.

Note: Shaded area represents SE. Political affiliation ranges from 1 (Very Liberal) to 7 (Very Conservative).

Fig 2. Partial correlation analysis results.

Note: Coefficients above the line represent first-order correlations; those below the line represent partial correlations. *: p < .05, **: p < .01, ***: p < .001.