Apocalypse Any Day Now: One-Third of Americans Believe These Are the End Times

The apocalypse, it turns out, is not just a theological curiosity or a trite Hollywood premise. For roughly one in three Americans, it is a real-time expectation, and according to new research, it quietly is shaping how they think about everything from nuclear war to artificial intelligence.A new study by psychologists at the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Irvine found that apocalyptic thinking is a measurable psychological force that predicts how people perceive and respond to global threats more reliably than political ideology. “Belief in the end of the world is surprisingly common across America, and it’s significantly influencing how people interpret and respond to the most pressing threats facing humanity,” postdoctoral scholar Matthew Billet, who led the research, told the university. “What we found is that apocalyptic thinking isn’t reserved for radical or fringe movements. These beliefs are held widely across diverse populations, and they have real consequences for how we confront global risks.”The research, co-authored by Cindel White, Azim Shariff, and Ara Norenzayan, is among the first to treat end-of-world beliefs as a risk assessment. The study surveyed more than 1,400 religiously diverse Americans drawn from six groups — Catholics, Mainline Protestants, Evangelical Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and the nonreligious — and found that roughly one-third believed the world would end within their own lifetime. National polls put that figure somewhere between 29 percent and 39 percent.Participants who believe humans will be responsible for bringing about the end — through nuclear weapons, emerging technology, or even climate change — were more likely to view global threats as urgent and severe, and more likely to support drastic measures to address them. “We found that believing the world will end soon actually predicted greater support for extreme action to address current threats,” Mr. Billet said. “It’s not that these believers don’t care about the future. They care deeply, but the specific content of their beliefs shapes how they want to respond.”“Different narratives people believe about the end of the world can lead to very different responses to societal issues,” he wrote. “Someone who believes humans are causing the apocalypse through climate change will respond very differently to environmental policy than someone who believes the end times are controlled by divine prophecy.”Those who believe divine or supernatural forces control the end are significantly less likely to support preventive action. “This has profound implications for policy and collective action,” Mr. Billet noted. “When people believe the end times are in God’s hands, they may be less motivated to support policies addressing climate change or other human-caused risks. On the other hand, those who feel personal control over the apocalypse are more willing to accept dramatic governmental and economic interventions.”One finding left the researchers without a clean explanation. People who believe the apocalypse will ultimately be a good thing still tend to support extreme action to prevent existential threats — even though, logically, one might expect them to stand aside and let events unfold. “Everyone agrees on one thing: we humans play an important role in the fate of our species,” Mr. Billet said. “This was as true for the religious as it was for the non-religious.”

Apocalypse Any Day Now: One-Third of Americans Believe These Are the End Times

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