Features of the relationship between anxiety and conspirativistic mentality types of students of the Southern and Northern regions

Abstract

Introduction. Belief in conspiracies is considered in connection with the person's personality traits and the peculiarities of the social environment. Conspiracy theories can act as one of the ways to process experiences associated with a sense of serious threat. Classical works on the topic of anxiety were compared with the postmodern approach, which expanded the vision of the problem of the relationship between anxiety and conspiracy. Anxiety is considered in a non-classical way. The ambiguity of the influence of anxiety on conspirativism and the lack of regional Russian research is emphasised.Purpose. Establishing the features of the relationship between anxiety and belief in conspiracies of students from different regions. Materials and methods. The study sample was 357 students from Rostov-on-Don and Arkhangelsk. The following methods were applied: Mentality Type Measurement Technique (MITM) (V. I. Pishchik), Teilor's Manifest Anxiety Scale, The Questionnaire for Measuring Beliefs in Conspiracies (S. S. Mutalimova, V. I. Pishchik, supplemented) and the Measurement of Conspirativistic Mentality method (V. I. Pishchik). Statistical methods were correlation analysis, difference test, and regression analysis.  Results. The severity of anxiety levels was found in men. A significant correlation was revealed between the productive type of mentality and anxiety. Predictors of the conspirativistic mentality type "Ready", including anxiety, are determined. Significant differences were found in the level of anxiety and belief in conspiracies with a predominant prevalence in the Northern region.Discussion and conclusion. There is no close relationship between anxiety and the type of conspirativistic mentality. The results and methods are recommended for use by psychologists and teachers in educational work with students.