In a current examine revealed within the journal PLoS ONE, scientists study the political, psychological, and social traits of people who purchase and commerce cryptocurrencies.
Study: The political, psychological, and social correlates of cryptocurrency ownership. Picture Credit score: Arsenii Palivoda / Shutterstock.com
Background
Cryptocurrency is a kind of digital foreign money secured by cryptography. In contrast to conventional currencies like the US greenback (USD) and Euro, that are issued by governments, cryptocurrencies are sometimes decentralized, which has created challenges for governments and regulatory our bodies taken with regulating these transactions.
Cryptocurrency depends on blockchain know-how to document all transactions, preserving these exchanges nameless. Nevertheless, its anonymity and irreversible nature pose vital safety dangers, as exchanges and wallets are simple targets for criminals collaborating in monetary scams and terrorist assaults.
Regardless of these challenges which have prevented the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency, tens of millions of people all through the world have invested on this know-how, with cryptocurrency belongings price a collective worth of over USD 3 trillion in 2021. Thus, the growing tendency of individuals to spend money on these applied sciences and, consequently, have interaction in dangerous monetary behaviors emphasizes the significance of investigating the associations between cryptocurrency possession and particular person political, social, and psychological traits.
Study design
The examine cohort included a demographically consultant pattern of two,001 American adults. Members’ responses about their involvement in cryptocurrency have been collected between Could and June 2022. Study individuals additionally offered demographic data and responded to measures of assorted political, psychological, and social traits.
Essential observations
About 30% of the examine inhabitants reported being concerned in cryptocurrency, which interprets to about 77 million Individuals collaborating on this type of digital change and funding. Cryptocurrency possession was considerably related to youthful males with the next academic background, monetary standing, and spiritual beliefs. A weak constructive affiliation was additionally noticed with people of Black and Hispanic ethnicity.
Sturdy constructive associations of cryptocurrency possession have been noticed with conspiracism-related components, together with conspiracy theories and conspiratorial pondering.
Concerning political orientations, cryptocurrency owners exhibited a variety of left-right political ideologies, making it troublesome to precisely categorize their political views. Total, cryptocurrency owners have been extra more likely to report populist sentiments and stronger non-left-right political attitudes. Cryptocurrency owners have been additionally extra more likely to be supportive of extremist teams and establish themselves with the extremities of partisanship and ideology.
A constructive affiliation of cryptocurrency possession was noticed with involvement in normative political actions similar to volunteering throughout elections, attending political conferences and protests, partaking in civil disobedience, and contacting elected officers. Nevertheless, a constructive affiliation was additionally noticed between cryptocurrency possession and involvement in additional problematic types of interpersonal and political actions, similar to being argumentative, intensifying battle when disagreeing with others, and collaborating in political violence.
Furthermore, constructive associations have been noticed between cryptocurrency possession and a spread of ‘darkish’ persona behaviors, together with narcissism, psychopathy, sadism, and Machiavellianism, which displays a strategic deal with self-interest and lack of morality and empathy for others.
Cryptocurrency owners have been additionally extra frequent customers of different and fringe social media platforms as in comparison with mainstream social media platforms.
The researchers additionally carried out a multivariate evaluation that thought-about all related variables representing demographics, pondering kinds and mental attitudes, persona traits, and media environments. This evaluation revealed that male gender, increased reliance on different and fringe social media platforms, argumentativeness, and aversion to authoritarianism have been the strongest predictors of cryptocurrency possession.
Amongst varied social media platforms, Telegram, YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, and blogs have been the strongest predictors of cryptocurrency possession. In distinction, Fb use was recognized as the one damaging predictor of cryptocurrency possession.
Study significance
The evaluation reveals that cryptocurrency owners usually tend to have varied nonnormative and maladaptive traits as in comparison with those that have by no means owned cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency customers are additionally extra more likely to adhere to a variety of political affiliations and identities, imagine in conspiracy theories, have ‘darkish’ persona traits, in addition to gather data on present occasions, public points, and politics from different or fringe social media platforms.
Many governments are taken with extra tightly regulating cryptocurrencies, emphasizing the significance of figuring out the components that appeal to folks to personal cryptocurrency. Thus, future research are wanted to investigate the variations in private traits between several types of cryptocurrency possession utilizing well-developed multi-item questionnaires. Additional analysis can be crucial to know how the traits of cryptocurrency owners change over time because the foreign money turns into kind of accepted in society.
Journal reference:
- Littrell, S., Klofstad, C., & Uscinski, J. E. (2024). The political, psychological, and social correlates of cryptocurrency possession. PLoS ONE. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0305178