New research published in British Journal of Psychology suggest that having an exaggerated sense of superiority about one’s social class tends to foster belief in conspiracy theories about psychological assistance. These attitudes can be a barrier to receiving treatment. This provides evidence that how we view our social status influences our physical and mental health.
A conspiracy theory is a story that proposes that a group of people is secretly planning a malicious act. In the context of mental health, these beliefs suggest that psychologists and psychiatrists seek to manipulate or control the public rather than truly helping them. Such beliefs can deter people from seeking professional support when they are facing difficulties.
“Above all, we were interested in how people perceive psychological help and mental health professionals and how they shape their attitudes,” said Zuzanna Molenda, a postdoctoral researcher in the Political Cognition Laboratory at the Institute of Psychology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. “Some of these views take the form of conspiracy theories, stories that suggest mental health professionals are actually against the public or pursuing hidden agendas.”
Molenda and her colleagues pursued this project to better understand how people construct these anti-science views. “This kind of thinking can be an important barrier to seeking psychological help, so we wanted to explore what predicts such beliefs and what they are associated with,” she explained.
A known predictor of this type of belief is collective narcissism. This concept describes a defensive group identity, where people believe that their particular group is exceptional but not valued by others. People high in collective narcissism are highly sensitive to perceived threats from the outside world.
These people often have anti-science attitudes because they feel that their group is constantly being attacked. Embracing conspiracy theories helps explain away perceived disadvantages or unrecognized aspects of one’s own group. By blaming external enemies, groups can maintain a sense of superiority.
Previous research has focused primarily on collective narcissism at the national level, such as believing that one’s own country is superior to other countries. The authors of this paper wanted to explore identities based on social class. Social class refers to a person’s position in society and is often related to income, education, and daily lifestyle.
Social class narcissism occurs when people believe that their particular socio-economic group is superior but never recognized. Scientists designed the project to see if this particular type of narcissism can foster mistrust of mental health professionals. They proposed that individuals may think of therapy as a tool used by outsiders to challenge their group’s special status.
To test these ideas, the researchers conducted four separate studies with both Polish and American participants. In all studies, they asked respondents to self-identify their social class as lower, middle, or upper. Based on this selection, the survey tailored the question text to the specific social class of the participants.
In the first study, the authors surveyed a representative sample of 705 Polish adults. Participants rated their agreement with a statement measuring belief in the psychological aid conspiracy. One example of a statement suggests that the real purpose of psychotherapy is to control people’s thoughts and emotions to make them more docile.
The researchers also measured social class narcissism by asking participants to rate items such as whether their chosen social class deserved special treatment. Results showed that higher levels of social class narcissism correlated with stronger beliefs in psychological aid conspiracies. This association remained significant even when taking into account the individual’s educational level and subjective economic situation.
In the second study, scientists designed an experiment to see if they could temporarily induce narcissism in social classes. They recruited participants online and settled on a final sample of 1,371 Polish adults. This final figure was achieved after excluding respondents who did not read the instructions properly or were unable to answer basic comprehension questions.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the experimental group, participants read a fabricated article about how their particular social class is undervalued and deserves more respect. In the control group, participants read neutral passages about social class.
After reading the material, everyone completed the same psychological aid conspiracy questionnaire used in the original study. The results showed that participants in the group prone to social class narcissism showed significantly higher beliefs about psychological conspiracies compared to the control group. This provides evidence that activating social class narcissism can directly increase suspicious attitudes toward mental health professionals.
The third study aimed to replicate the first findings in a different cultural setting. The authors recruited 511 people living in the United States through an online platform. Participants answered the same survey questions about social class narcissism and psychological conspiracy theories.
American participants also answered questions about their willingness to seek professional psychological help if they experienced a mental breakdown. This allowed the researchers to measure positive attitudes toward treatment. The survey also collected data on annual net income and education level.
Data from the American sample mirrored the Polish data, showing that social class narcissism is associated with stronger psychological helping conspiracy beliefs. Researchers also found that these conspiracy theories act as a bridge between social class narcissism and negative attitudes toward seeking treatment. This suggests that people with high social class narcissism tend to avoid psychological help, especially because they endorse conspiracy theories about it.
For the fourth study, the scientists returned to a representative sample of 647 Polish adults. They wanted to add another variable to the model, known as mental health literacy. This concept refers to an individual’s factual knowledge about the realities of mental health conditions and psychiatric treatment.
Participants completed an expanded version of a previous survey. They also completed a new questionnaire that tested whether they believed true or false statements about mental health. One example item validated the knowledge that even people without a severe diagnosis would benefit from seeing a psychotherapist.
Similar to previous research, social class narcissism predicted higher conspiracy beliefs. The authors also found that social class narcissism was associated with lower mental health literacy. The analysis showed that a lack of factual knowledge and a growing sense of group superiority tend to keep people away from professional mental health care.
These findings highlight the complex role of social status in medical decision-making. “One important lesson is that our beliefs about psychological help and mental health professionals can be shaped by our perceptions of social identity and social status,” Molenda explained.
“In our study, we focused on social class narcissism, the belief that one’s social class is exceptional but not sufficiently recognized by others,” Molenda told Cypost. “Such defensive identification may foster distrust and increase the likelihood of endorsing conspiracy theories about psychological assistance.”
This identity-based suspicion has real-world implications for public health. “This is important because such assumptions can deter people from seeking help when they actually need it,” Molenda noted.
Mr Molenda suggested that addressing these barriers requires a broad and multi-layered approach. “We therefore believe that improving mental health literacy alone may not be enough. It is also important to understand the broader social and identity-related factors that shape trust in psychological support,” she said.
As with all research, this study has some limitations. “One important caveat is that although we conducted one experimental study, most of our findings are based on correlational data,” Molenda said. “This means that we need to be careful not to draw strong causal conclusions, particularly regarding the broader pathways linking social class narcissism and attitudes toward psychological help.”
Another limitation involves the demographic composition of the respondents. “Although our sample was partially nationally representative, it is also noteworthy that most participants identified as middle class,” Molenda said. “This means that our findings primarily reflect the experience of the middle class and that conclusions about lower and upper social classes should be drawn with caution.”
The researchers also noted that cultural differences between Poland and the United States may influence the understanding of social class. The concept of social class is deeply shaped by a region’s history and economy. Studying different societies can help scientists see whether the relationship between class identity and conspiracy theory beliefs varies based on geography.
There are other explanations for the findings that warrant future investigation. A general distrust of institutions and professionals may be the root cause of both social class narcissism and reluctance to seek treatment. Future experiments should use different ways of manipulating social class narcissism to try to see exactly how feelings of group superiority shape our health decisions.
The study “Habits of Suspicion? The Role of Social Class Narcissism in the Formation of Psychological Aid Conspiracy Theories” was authored by Zuzanna Molenda, Marta Marlewska, Piotr Michalski, Marta Rogoza, Paulina Bagrowska, Dominika Adamczyk, Maciej Grzeszczuk, Łukasz Gaweda and Grzegorz. Pochiwatoko and Adam Karakura.
