Conspiracy theories and online dating: It’s a (mis)match!

Conspiracy beliefs can harm interpersonal relationships, but their impact on future relationships remains underexplored. Across four preregistered experiments (N = 1,603), we examined how sharing conspiracy theories in online dating profiles affects interpersonal impressions and intentions to start relationships, and whether these outcomes depend on perceivers’ political orientation. Experiments 1a and 1b revealed that profiles including right-wing conspiracy theories were perceived less favourably compared to controls. Participants were also more reluctant to start relationships with the profile holder. In Experiment 2, implausible (vs. plausible) left-wing conspiracy theories elicited stronger negative reactions.

In Experiment 3, participants showed less interest in conspiracy-sharing profiles (vs.controls) on a mock dating app. Political orientation moderated these effects—liberals were more critical, while conservatives were more lenient and sometimes favoured conspiracy-sharing profiles. These findings further highlight the social consequences of sharing conspiracy theories and the moderating role of political orientation.