Psychological mechanisms of actualization of students' conspiracy mentality

Statement of the problem. Today, there is a large spread of belief in conspiracy theories that have harmful consequences for public health and safety. Identifying the mechanisms of actualization of the conspiracy mentality is a significant problem that will contribute to the development of methods of influencing conspiracy beliefs. Various mechanisms of actualization of the conspiracy mentality from cultural, psychodynamic, socio-psychological, cognitive, structural analysis, and other positions are described. In the psychodynamic approach, it is a mechanism of repression, deviation from a frightening event, in the presence of a conspiracy, as well as a mechanism for overcoming collective trauma. From a cognitive perspective, intuitive processes and thinking can act as mechanisms that provoke belief in conspiracies. From a socio-psychological point of view, phenomena such as group decision-making and solidarity provoke belief in conspiracies. There is an acceleration of the involvement of the population in the conspiracy - the mechanism of the ‘rabbit hole'. Belief in conspiracies is reinforced through the mechanism of the ‘illusion of focus' due to the remoteness from the epicenter of a catastrophic event. The purpose of the article is to describe a new mechanism of actualization of the conspiracy mentality. The research methodology is based on a subject-dynamic approach to the problem, which allowed us to describe a new mechanism for actualizing the conspiracy mentality. The empirical study used methods for measuring the types of belief in conspiracies, such as conspiratorial mentality, the level of critical thinking, actualization of values through fears, and methods of mathematical statistics. Research results. The article presents the mechanism of ‘interpassivity' - shifting responsibility to Another when a person shows passivity in relation to their desires. A study was conducted on a sample of students aged 18- 20 years, 50% girls, 60 people in total. Initially, the dominant types of belief in conspiracies were identified: in the pharmaceutical conspiracy, in social and political conspiracies. It was revealed that girls have a more stable type of conspiratorial mentality, while boys have a ready-made type. The average level of critical thinking prevailed in the group and the ‘value of self' was expressed. We have attracted students to participate in the training. There have been changes in the belief in a political conspiracy, it has significantly decreased, belief in a conspiracy on the issue of vaccination, a pharmaceutical conspiracy. The representation of the seeking and effective types of conspiratorial mentality has become more pronounced. The type of ready-made conspiratorial mentality has declined.