Exposure to disgusting smells increases belief in conspiracy theories. A preregistered study.

In a previous correlational study, we found that disgust sensitivity predicts conspiratorial thinking and that this relationship is mediated by the tendency to use a shortcut thinking style. These results may support the notion that reliance on emotions evolved to avoid pathogen threats may increase dependence on cognitive heuristics, including beliefs in conspiracy theories (CTs). However, these results were obtained from a cross-sectional study, and causal inferences are unwarranted. The aim of our proposed study is to experimentally manipulate disgust by exposing participants to disgusting vs. non-disgusting odors. Participants will be asked to endorse fictive and politically neutral CTs and solve puzzles that involve cognitive reflection. We expect that participants exposed to disgusting smells will display higher levels of endorsement of CTs and that this effect will be mediated by their accuracy in using cognitive reflection.