Belief in Conspiracy Theory of COVID-19: A Physicological Point of View on Political Trust and Intensity of Social Media Use

Abstract

Believing in conspiracy theory during the pandemic has messed up the information system, obstructed the health service process, and weaken the government’s ultimatum. The conspiracy theory is believed once uncertainty over a phenomenon comes up and may cause a big threat. This research is aimed at viewing the political belief and social media use intensity and their correlation to people’s belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theory. This research involves 169 participants selected through quota sampling technique in Surabaya, Indonesia. The research instrument consists of scales of belief in COVID-19 conspiration theory, public trust, and social media use intensity arranged by the researchers. Some people who believe in COVID-19 conspiration theory assume that COVID-19 is a conspiracy of the world’s elites, which lets them underestimate the phenomenon of COVID-19, break the health protocol, tend to enjoy and carry hoaxes of COVID-19. However, the result of multiple regression analysis of this research shows that political trust and social media use intensity significantly correlates with the belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theory.