Abstract

Anecdotal reports in the media and on forums such as Reddit’s r/QAnonCasualties suggest that relationships can suffer when one person in the relationship believes in conspiracy theories. People commonly report having “lost” a loved one who has fallen down a “rabbit hole” of false beliefs. However, despite all the anecdotal evidence, very little empirical research has examined the consequences of conspiracy theories for people’s interpersonal relationships. In this talk, we present three lines of research in which we address this issue. First, we report the results of a qualitative study in which respondents described their broken relationships with close others who believe in conspiracy theories. We next report a set of cross-sectional and experimental studies in which we found that people perceived their existing relationships, and anticipated their future relationships, to be less satisfactory with conspiracy believers compared to conspiracy non-believers. Finally, we report a set of experimental studies using fictitious dating profiles, in which participants reported a lower likelihood of starting new relationships with conspiracy believers compared to conspiracy non-believers. Overall, these findings suggest that conspiracy beliefs can be detrimental for people’s interpersonal relationships. We highlight the need for further research on this topic and discuss potential factors that could prevent relationships being eroded by conspiracy beliefs.