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Ricerche di Psicologia/Psychological Research Journal - Open Access

Articoli

N. 2 (2022)

Teorie del complotto, radicalizzazione e ricerca del significato

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/rip2022oa14613
Inviata
19 settembre 2022
Pubblicato
21-09-2022

Abstract

La pandemia di Covid-19 ha rappresentato e continua a rappresentare un momento di crisi per molte società nel mondo. In tempi di difficoltà come questo, le teorie del complotto si diffondono molto rapidamente in quanto forniscono spiegazioni semplici a eventi complessi dando l’illusione di avere il controllo di una realtà sconosciuta e spesso spaventosa. Negli ultimi tempi si è registrato un aumento della diffusione, soprattutto online, di teorie del complotto legate sia alla pandemia di Covid-19 che ad altri eventi sociali.
Tuttavia, la diffusione delle teorie del complotto può avere conseguenze sociali molto gravi come favorire il fiorire di forme di radicalizzazione. Nella presente ricerca cross-sectional condotta in Italia (N = 197) abbiamo utilizzato la Significance Quest Theory (SQT; Kruglanski et al., 2017) per descrivere come la radicalizzazione sia collegata alla ricerca di significato che può portare le persone ad adottare una mentalità complottista che a sua volta può supportare cognizioni e comportamenti radicalizzati. I risultati di questo studio rivelano che le relazioni tra ricerca di significato e tendenza alla radicalizzazione e forme di pregiudizio nei confronti degli immigrati, sono in parte spiegate dal pensiero complottista. Le implicazioni teorico-pratiche di questa ricerca prendono in considerazione gli sviluppi di SQT applicato alla comprensione del pensiero complottista e alla prefigurazione di azioni educative da progettare in una prospettiva trasformativa.

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