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Habitus of doubt? The role of social class narcissism in shaping psychological help conspiracy beliefs

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Collective narcissism is known to fuel anti-scientific attitudes. However, its role in shaping conspiracy beliefs portraying those who use psychology to help others as manipulative or controlling remains largely unexplored. We argue that social class narcissism (i.e., exaggerated belief in the superiority of one's social group, along with sensitivity to criticism and hostility towards other groups) would foster psychological help conspiracy beliefs. Across three cross-sectional studies (N = 1863) among Polish and American participants, social class narcissism correlated with stronger psychological help conspiracy beliefs. In an experimental Study 2 (N = 1371), primed social class narcissism increased such beliefs. The last two studies further showed that social class narcissism was linked to negative attitudes towards psychological help via higher psychological help conspiracy beliefs (Studies 3-4) and lower mental health literacy (Study 4). Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating social identities into interventions targeting anti-scientific attitudes in psychology.

Source: British Journal of Psychology

DOI: 10.1111/bjop.70071