McAuley, Mícáel (2022) Conspiracy and Mental Well-Being: A Dynamic Network Analysis. Bachelor's Thesis, Artificial Intelligence.
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Abstract
With the COVID-19 pandemic creating the potential circumstances for a bloom in conspiracy theories, understanding the functionality of conspiracy's development is of a heightened importance. The existing literature is mixed on whether conspiracy is a cause or a symptom of negative mental well-being, with some studies suggesting it may be a coping mechanism resulting in potential improvements to mental well-being. Network analysis is a relatively new approach in psychopathology that has led to fresh insights in the complex organisation of disorders. By applying it here, the connections between conspiracy and mental well-being can be visualised and studied in a previously unexplored manner. This paper used data on 2942 participants collected by the Psycorona Initiative. Their weekly responses were used to create a multi-level vector auto-regression model from which dynamic networks could be generated. Further evidence was found for the co-morbidity of conspiracy and negative mental-well being with conspiracy appearing to causally propagate itself across time. This project presents evidence that conspiracy may be a cause and not an effect of negative mental well-being. Conspiracy's low centrality across networks and strong self-reinforcement could indicate that it is being driven by factors unrelated to mental well-being, beyond the scope of this network analysis.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Vugt, M.K. van |
| Degree programme: | Artificial Intelligence |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Mar 2022 08:50 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Mar 2022 08:50 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/26766 |
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