Validating a German Version of the Conspiracy Mentality Scale (CMS)

Abstract

Increased scientific interest in conspiracy beliefs raises the need for validated individual difference measures in the general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories, otherwise referred to as conspiracy mentality. In this article, we present a German language version of the Conspiracy Mentality Scale (CMS). A representative sample of German-speaking Swiss residents (N = 468) filled in the scale, along with measures of trust in several sources of information, need for social validation, compliance with Covid-19 preventive measures, perceived severity of the pandemic, loneliness, functional literacy and interpersonal conflict. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-dimensional structure of the original scale. Positive correlations between conspiracy theory ideation and trust in friends and the need for social validation on the one hand, and negative correlations with trust in scientific publications and scientific experts, perceived severity of the pandemic and functional literacy on the other hand supported construct validity. We conclude that our German language version of the scale is a valid measure of conspiracy theory ideation and skepticism.

Data availability

The data associated with this paper is available at https://osf.io/afws5/?view_only=a46593e5970c4372ae53cffef398298f

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data through Open Practices Disclosure. The data are openly accessible at https://osf.io/afws5/?view_only=a46593e5970c4372ae53cffef398298f.

Disclosure statement

We have no known conflict of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

The COM-COVID data collection was funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, Health Division of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Stefan Dräger, and Roche Diagnostics.