Speaking (Un–)Truth to Power: Conspiracy Mentality as A Generalised Political Attitude

Imhoff, Roland; Bruder, Martin

doi:10.1002/per.1930

Cited by 831Misinformation and Its ImpactsSocial and Intergroup PsychologyTerrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

Speaking (Un–)Truth to Power: Conspiracy Mentality as A Generalised Political Attitude

Imhoff, Roland, Bruder, Martin·2014·European Journal of Personality

DOI 10.1002/per.1930

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Abstract

Conspiracy theories explain complex world events with reference to secret plots hatched by powerful groups. Belief in such theories is largely determined by a general propensity towards conspirational thinking. Such a conspiracy mentality can be understood as a generalised political attitude, distinct from established generalised political attitudes such as right–wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) (Study 1a, N = 497) that is temporally relatively stable (Study 1b and 1c, total N = 196). Three further studies (combined N = 854) show that in contrast to RWA and SDO, conspiracy mentality is related to prejudice against high–power groups that are perceived as less likeable and more threatening than low–power groups, whereas SDO and RWA are associated with an opposite reaction to perceptions of power. Study 5 (N = 1852) investigates the relationship of conspiracy mentality with political behavioural intentions in a specific catastrophic scenario (i.e. the damage to the Fukushima nuclear reactor after the 2011 tsunami in Japan) revealing a hitherto neglected role of conspiracy mentality in motivating social action aimed at changing the status quo. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology.

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Conspiracy belief has been linked to prejudice against powerful groups.
“Conspiracy belief has also been linked to prejudice against powerful groups (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014)”
From The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories (2017) · cites this paper as Imhoff & Bruder, 2014

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BackgroundInfluential
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COVID-19 Misinformation Trends in Australia: Prospective Longitudinal National Survey
Pickles, K. M., Cvejic, E., Nickel, B., Copp, T., Bonner, C., Leask, J., Ayre, J., Batcup, C., Cornell, S., Dakin, T., et al. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/23805 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
“Researchers have recently investigated the degree to which misinformation about COVID-19 is associated with people’s willingness to adhere to public health recommendations and government-enforced measures; they found that willingness decreases significantly as the strength of misbeliefs increases [44,45]; this also in…”
The dark side of social movements: social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories
Sternisko, A., Cichocka, A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2020) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.02.007 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
The effect of conspiratorial thinking and motivated reasoning on belief in election fraud
Edelson, J., Alduncin, A., Krewson, C., Sieja, J. A., & Uscinski, J. E. (2017) · Political Research Quarterly · doi:10.1177/1065912917721061 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
Psychological correlates of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures: evidence from turkey.
Alper, S., Bayrak, F., & Yilmaz, O. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-020-00903-0 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
An examination of the factorial and convergent validity of four measures of conspiracist ideation, with recommendations for researchers
Swami, V., Barron, D. S., Weis, L., Voracek, M., Stieger, S., & Furnham, A. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0172617 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
“To take the CMQ first, two different versions of this scale appear to exist in the literature: a 12-item version [23] and a 5-item version [21] .”
BackgroundMethod
Belief in conspiracy theories and intentions to engage in everyday crime
Jolley, D., Douglas, K. M., Leite, A. C., & Schrader, T. (2019) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12311 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
“Furthermore, they appear to increase prejudice toward powerful groups who are perceived to conspire (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014).”
BackgroundResult
Content matters. Different predictors and social consequences of general and government-related conspiracy theories on COVID-19
Oleksy, T., Wnuk, A., Maison, D. A., & Łyś, A. E. (2020) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110289 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Suspicion of institutions: How distrust and conspiracy theories deteriorate social relationships
van Prooijen, J., Spadaro, G., & Wang, H. (2021) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.06.013 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Climate Change Conspiracy Theories
Uscinski, J. E., Douglas, K. M., & Lewandowsky, S. (2016) · Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.328 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
What breeds conspiracy antisemitism? The role of political uncontrollability and uncertainty in the belief in Jewish conspiracy
Kofta, M., Soral, W., & Bilewicz, M. (2020) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspa0000183 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Mistrust and misinformation: A two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories
Pierre, J. M. (2020) · Journal of Social and Political Psychology · doi:10.5964/jspp.v8i2.1362 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Blaming a few bad apples to save a threatened barrel: the system-justifying function of conspiracy theories
Jolley, D., Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M. (2018) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12404 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Toward Parsimony in Bias Research: A Proposed Common Framework of Belief-Consistent Information Processing for a Set of Biases
Oeberst, A., & Imhoff, R. (2023) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916221148147 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
“…flock together (Bruder et al., 2013); of why such a “conspiracy mentality” is correlated with the general tendency to see agency (anthropomor-phism; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014), negative intentions of others (Frenken & Imhoff, 2022), and patterns where there are none (van Prooijen et al., 2018); and…”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Tearing apart the “evil” twins: A general conspiracy mentality is not the same as specific conspiracy beliefs
Imhoff, R., Bertlich, T., & Frenken, M. (2022) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101349 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Self-citation
Why conspiracy theories matter: A social psychological analysis
Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M. (2018) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/10463283.2018.1537428 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
“In two studies, we built on this work to provide empirical tests of the role of anthropomorphic thinking in conspiracy belief (Douglas, Sutton, Callan, Harvey & Dawtry, 2016; see also Brotherton & French, 2015; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014).”
BackgroundMethod
Looking out for myself: Exploring the relationship between conspiracy mentality, perceived personal risk, and COVID‐19 prevention measures
Marinthe, G., Brown, G., Delouvée, S., & Jolley, D. (2020) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjhp.12449 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
“These findings have led several scholars to argue that a general world view – a conspiracy mentality – may underpin conspiracy beliefs (e.g., Bruder et al., 2013; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Moscovici, 1987).”
Background
Can Conspiracy Beliefs Be Beneficial? Longitudinal Linkages Between Conspiracy Beliefs, Anxiety, Uncertainty Aversion, and Existential Threat
Liekefett, L., Christ, O., & Becker, J. C. (2023) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672211060965 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
“They assume that events are the result of plots initiated by malevolent individuals or groups who act in secret (Bruder et al., 2013; Douglas et al., 2017; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014).”
Background
Collective Narcissism Predicts Hypersensitivity to In–group Insult and Direct and Indirect Retaliatory Intergroup Hostility
Golec de Zavala, A., Peker, M., Guerra, R., & Baran, T. (2016) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1002/per.2067 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
“30: 532–551 (2016) DOI: 10.1002/per thinking (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014) and via this relationship predicts prejudice and schadenfreude towards powerful, successful or competent out-groups.”
BackgroundInfluential
Bored to fears: Boredom proneness, paranoia, and conspiracy theories
Brotherton, R., & Eser, S. (2015) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.02.011 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
“…between conspiracism and traits related to paranoia, including mistrust, pessimism , hostility, cynicism, defiance of authority, impulsive nonconformity, and low agreeableness (Abalakina-Paap et al., 1999; Goertzel, 1994; Imhoff & Bruder, 2013; Parsons et al., 1999; Swami et al., 2011, 2013, 2010).”
Psychological Correlates of Populist Attitudes
Erişen, C., Guidi, M., Martini, S., Toprakkiran, S., Isernia, P., & Littvay, L. (2021) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12768 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
“In one way, a conspiracy mindset is potentially a predisposition that varies between different persons (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014).”
Background
Collective narcissism and the growth of conspiracy thinking over the course of the 2016 United States presidential election: a longitudinal analysis
Golec de Zavala, A., & Federico, C. M. (2018) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2496 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Monitoring the psychological, social, and economic impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic in the population: Context, design and conduct of the longitudinal COVID‐19 psychological research consortium (C19PRC) study
McBride, O., Murphy, J., Shevlin, M. E., Miller, J. G., Hartman, T. K., Hyland, P., Levita, L., Mason, L., Martínez, A. P., McKay, R., et al. (2020) · International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1002/mpr.1861 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
“…to accept COVID‐19 vaccine X Willingness to participate in COVID‐19 vaccine trial X General attitudes/beliefs towards vaccines X Conspiracy theories: Conspiracy Mentality Scale (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014) X Mental health Depression: Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 (Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams,…”
Background
Suspicion in the workplace: Organizational conspiracy theories and work‐related outcomes
Douglas, K. M., & Leite, A. C. (2017) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.12212 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Intention Seekers: Conspiracist Ideation and Biased Attributions of Intentionality
Brotherton, R., & French, C. C. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124125 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
“In line with Study 1, as well as previous research [68,69], the tendency towards endorsing anthropomorphic statements predicted stronger conspiracist ideation.”
BackgroundResultInfluential
Who believes in conspiracy theories? A meta-analysis on personality correlates
Stasielowicz, L. (2022) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2022.104229 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Using Power as a Negative Cue: How Conspiracy Mentality Affects Epistemic Trust in Sources of Historical Knowledge
Imhoff, R., Lamberty, P., & Klein, O. (2018) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167218768779 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
“In fact, power per se then serves as a cue to threat and reduced likeability (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014) and a likely signal for corruption and misuse of power.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialSelf-citation
From Belief in Conspiracy Theories to Trust in Others: Which Factors Influence Exposure, Believing and Sharing Fake News
Halpern, D., Valenzuela, S., Katz, J., & Miranda, J. P. (2019) · Interacción · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-21902-4_16 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Patterns of Media Use, Strength of Belief in COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories, and the Prevention of COVID-19 From March to July 2020 in the United States: Survey Study
Romer, D., & Jamieson, K. H. (2021) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/25215 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
“A notable characteristic of conspiracy beliefs is the tendency for belief in any one to be associated with acceptance of others [2,15-17].”
The illusion of explanatory depth and endorsement of conspiracy beliefs
Vitriol, J. A., & Marsh, J. K. (2018) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2504 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity
Adam‐Troian, J., Wagner‐Egger, P., Motyl, M. S., Arciszewski, T., Imhoff, R., Zimmer, F., Klein, O., Babińska, M., Bangerter, A., Bilewicz, M., et al. (2020) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12716 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Self-citation
Sometimes inclusion breeds suspicion: Self‐uncertainty and belongingness predict belief in conspiracy theories
van Prooijen, J. (2016) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2157 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
A Power‐Challenging Theory of Society, or a Conservative Mindset? Upward and Downward Conspiracy Theories as Ideologically Distinct Beliefs
Nera, K., Wagner-Egger, P., Bertin, P., Douglas, K. M., & Klein, O. (2021) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2769 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
“This finding has been replicated numerous times (e.g., Brotherton et al., 2013; Goertzel, 1994; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Lukic et al., 2019; Swami et al., 2011; Wagner-Egger & Bangerter, 2007; Wood et al., 2012), to the point that it has been identified as the most robust finding in all research on…”
BackgroundResultInfluential
The entertainment value of conspiracy theories
van Prooijen, J., Ligthart, J., Rosema, S., & Xu, Y. (2021) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.12522 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Consequences of Economic Inequality for the Social and Political Vitality of Society: A Social Identity Analysis
Jetten, J., Peters, K., Álvarez, B., Casara, B. G. S., Dare, M., Kirkland, K., Sánchez‐Rodríguez, Á., Selvanathan, H. P., Sprong, S. L., Tanjitpiyanond, P., et al. (2021) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12800 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Powerful Pharma and Its Marginalized Alternatives?: Effects of Individual Differences in Conspiracy Mentality on Attitudes Toward Medical Approaches
Lamberty, P., & Imhoff, R. (2018) · Social Psychology · doi:10.1027/1864-9335/a000347 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
“Previous research has established that the belief in conspiracy theories is linked to perceiving any position of high power as a cue to suspicion (e.g., Imhoff & Bruder, 2014).”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citation
Predictors of belief in conspiracy theory: The role of individual differences in schizotypal traits, paranormal beliefs, social dominance orientation, right wing authoritarianism and conspiracy mentality
Dyrendal, A., Kennair, L. E., & Bendixen, M. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110645 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: Relations with anxiety, quality of life, and schemas
Leibovitz, T., Shamblaw, A. L., Rumas, R., & Best, M. W. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110704 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
“Additionally, conspiracy beliefs have been linked to negative views of other people (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Kofta & Sedek, 2005), suggesting that negative schemas about others likely contribute to conspiracy beliefs.”
Stigmatized beliefs: Conspiracy theories, anticipated negative evaluation of the self, and fear of social exclusion
Lantian, A., Müller, D., Nurra, C., Klein, O., Berjot, S., & Pantazi, M. (2018) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2498 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
The effect of intergroup threat and social identity salience on the belief in conspiracy theories over terrorism in indonesia: collective angst as a mediator
Mashuri, A., & Zaduqisti, E. (2015) · International journal of psychological research · doi:10.21500/20112084.642 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
“In support of this notion, Imhoff and Bruder (2014) recently reported that participants’ belief in conspiracy theories related to their negative stereotyping against powerful outgroups regarded as less likable and more threatening.”
Background
Online communication as a window to conspiracist worldviews
Wood, M. J., & Douglas, K. M. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00836 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
“Imhoff and Bruder (2014) and Oliver and Wood (2014) have demonstrated that conspiracist ideation is mostly independent of other sociopolitical dimensions like rightwing authoritarianism, conservatism, and social dominance orientation (though not entirely; see, e.g., Grzesiak-Feldman and Izrycka,…”
Background
The Conspiracy Mentality Scale
Stojanov, A., & Halberstadt, J. (2019) · Social Psychology · doi:10.1027/1864-9335/a000381 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
The cultural dimension of intergroup conspiracy theories
van Prooijen, J., & Song, M. (2020) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.12471 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
“Consistent with these findings, authoritarianism – a personality trait involving acceptance of hierarchy – is empirically associatedwith belief in specific conspiracy theories, but notwith generalized conspiracy mentality (Abalakina-Paap et al., 1999; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Swami, 2012).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluential
Shining a spotlight on the dangerous consequences of conspiracy theories
Jolley, D., Marques, M. D., & Cookson, D. (2022) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101363 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Conspiracy Thinking in Europe and America: A Comparative Study
Walter, A., & Drochon, H. (2020) · Political Studies · doi:10.1177/0032321720972616 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
“Various studies have found political distrust to be associated with a stronger propensity to conspiracy thinking (Imhoff and Bruder, 2014) – conspiracy theorists tend to reject the ‘official line’ (Wood et al., 2012) – and political trust with a lower propensity to conspiracy thinking (Einstein and…”
Background
Individual, intergroup and nation-level influences on belief in conspiracy theories
Hornsey, M., Bierwiaczonek, K., Sassenberg, K., & Douglas, K. M. (2022) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-022-00133-0 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
What drives people to believe in Zika conspiracy theories?
Klofstad, C. A., Uscinski, J. E., Connolly, J., & West, J. (2019) · Palgrave Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0243-8 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
To what extent are conspiracy theorists concerned for self versus others? A COVID‐19 test case
Hornsey, M. J., Chapman, C. M., Álvarez, B., Bentley, S. V., Casara, B. G. S., Crimston, C. R., Ionescu, O., Krug, H., Selvanathan, H. P., Steffens, N. K., et al. (2021) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2737 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
“By “speaking truth to power” (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014) or exhorting the public to “wake up”, conspiracy theorists mirror the language of false consciousness: the notion that people are sedated by a system of power that prevents them from perceiving the true nature of their social or economic…”
Background
Misbehaving in the Corona crisis: The role of anxiety and unfounded beliefs
Erceg, N., Ružojčić, M., & Galić, Z. (2020) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-020-01040-4 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Looking under the tinfoil hat: Clarifying the personological and psychopathological correlates of conspiracy beliefs
Bowes, S. M., Costello, T. H., Ma, W., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2021) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/jopy.12588 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
“Agreeableness tends to manifest small negative associations with conspiracy beliefs (Brotherton, French, & Pickering, 2013; Swami, Tran, et al., 2016), whereas openness tends to manifest small positive associations (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Swami et al., 2012).”
Background
Conspiracy beliefs prospectively predict health behavior and well-being during a pandemic
van Prooijen, J., Etienne, T., Kutiyski, Y., & Krouwel, A. (2021) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291721004438 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
“…scholars have frequently investigated conspiracy thinking by operationalizing conspiracy mentality — a dispositional tendency to explain events in the world with the belief that they are caused by harmful conspiracies (Bruder, Haffke, Neave, Nouripanah, & Imhoff, 2013; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014).”
Bridging the great divide: Conspiracy theory research for the 21st century
Bütter, M., & Knight, P. (2015) · Diogenes · doi:10.1177/0392192116669289 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“…to Agreeableness, connected with a suspicion of others) and have suggested that individual differences in ‘conspiracy ideation’ are stable over time (Imhoff and Bruder, 2014), others have found that the conspiracy theorist does not have a distinctive personality (Brotherton, French, and…”
Background
Do conspiracy beliefs form a belief system? Examining the structure and organization of conspiracy beliefs
Enders, A. M., Uscinski, J. E., Klofstad, C., Seelig, M. I., Wuchty, S., Murthi, M. N., Premaratne, K., & Funchion, J. (2021) · Journal of Social and Political Psychology · doi:10.5964/jspp.5649 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“…underscoring the extent to which this idea has taken hold.1 However, while researchers have focused on the monological aspect of Goertzel’s thesis, little work has focused on the belief system aspect (exceptions include Dagnall, Drinkwater, Parker, Denovan, & Parton, 2015; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014).”
Influential
Are conspiracy theories harmless?
Douglas, K. M. (2021) · The Spanish Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1017/sjp.2021.10 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
“Indeed, they have been linked to non-normative political actions such as protests (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014) and illegal actions such as occupying buildings (Mari et al., 2017).”
Background
Disentangling Islamophobia: The differential effects of symbolic, realistic, and terroristic threat perceptions as mediators between social dominance orientation and Islamophobia
Uenal, F. (2016) · Journal of Social and Political Psychology · doi:10.5964/jspp.v4i1.463 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
“Previous research indicates a significant association between SDO and intergroup threat (Cohrs et al., 2005; Crowson, 2009; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Oswald, 2005) as well as between SDO and Islamophobia (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Zick & Küpper, 2006, 2007).”
Background
The paranoid style of American elections: explaining perceptions of electoral integrity in an age of populism
Norris, P., Garnett, H. A., & Grömping, M. (2019) · Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties · doi:10.1080/17457289.2019.1593181 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
“Second, conspiratorial thinking may also provide an individual with a sense of security in the face of powerlessness or a high-anxiety situation (Whitson and Galinsky 2008; Grzesiak-Feldman 2013; Imhoff and Bruder 2014).”
Background
Collective narcissism as a framework for understanding populism
de Zavala, A. G., & Keenan, O. (2020) · Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/jts5.69 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Is Belief in Conspiracy Theories Pathological? A Survey Experiment on the Cognitive Roots of Extreme Suspicion
Radnitz, S., & Underwood, P. (2015) · British Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1017/s0007123414000556 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Right-wing authoritarianism as a predictor of pro-establishment versus anti-establishment conspiracy theories
Wood, M. J., & Gray, D. (2019) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.036 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
The psychological and political correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs
Uscinski, J. E., Enders, A., Diekman, A., Funchion, J., Klofstad, C. A., Kübler, S., Murthi, M., Premaratne, K., Seelig, M. I., Verdear, D., et al. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-25617-0 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
“Another practical solution involves studying conspiracy thinking, the predisposition to believe in conspiracy theories, rather than the beliefs in specific conspiracy theories 46, 71–74 .”
Conspiracy beliefs and the individual, relational, and collective selves
Biddlestone, M., Green, R., Cichocka, A. K., Sutton, R. M., & Douglas, K. M. (2021) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12639 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Polarization Over Vaccination: Ideological Differences in Twitter Expression About COVID-19 Vaccine Favorability and Specific Hesitancy Concerns
Jiang, X., Su, M.-H., Hwang, J., Lian, R., Bräuer, M., Kim, S., & Shah, D. V. (2021) · Social Media + Society · doi:10.1177/20563051211048413 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
“…to conspiracy beliefs, which refers to beliefs that some covert but influential organization or governmental entity is responsible for a nefarious circum-stance or event, or has an underlying motive for their involvement (Douglas et al., 2019; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Jolley & Douglas, 2014).”
Background
How Orthogonal Are the Big Two of Social Perception? On the Curvilinear Relation Between Agency and Communion
Imhoff, R., & Koch, A. S. (2017) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691616657334 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
“Thus, we re-analyzed two other data sets in which individuals rated 32 groups on both perceived power and perceived likeability (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014, Studies 3 and 4).”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citation
Bowing and kicking: Rediscovering the fundamental link between generalized authoritarianism and generalized prejudice
Hodson, G., MacInnis, C. C., & Busseri, M. A. (2016) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.08.018 · Cited by 79 · see citing works

Beyond general political attitudes: Conspiracy mentality as a global belief system predicts endorsement of international and local conspiracy theories
Đorđević, J., Žeželj, I., & Đurić, Ž. (2021) · Journal of Social and Political Psychology · doi:10.5964/jspp.5609 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
The psychology of conspiracy mentality
Imhoff, R. (2025) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2025.10.002 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citation
Associations and Distinctions of Multiple Variants of Conspiracy Theories
Mao, J., Zeng, Z., Tian, C., Shenlong, Y. A. N. G., Zhou, H., & Guo, Y. (2024) · VU Research Portal · doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240611
Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries
Imhoff, R., Zimmer, F., Klein, O., António, J. H. C., Babińska, M., Bangerter, A., Bilewicz, M., Blanuša, N., Bovan, K., Bužarovska, R., et al. (2022) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01258-7 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Self-citation
The Devil is in the Detail: An Investigation into Belief in Conspiracy Theories
Trella, C. (2023) · Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) · doi:10.22024/unikent/01.02.106294

Authors: Imhoff, R., & Bruder, M.
Affiliations: University of Cologne (DE)
University of Konstanz (DE)
ORCID: Imhoff, Roland
Bruder, Martin
Venue: European Journal of Personality
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2014-01
Volume: 28
Issue: 1
Pages: 25-43
ISSN: 0890-2070 (ISSN-L)
1099-0984
DOI: 10.1002/per.1930
OpenAlex: W2148417036
Cited by: 831
References: 44
Citations by year: 2026: 82 · 2025: 94 · 2024: 125 · 2023: 94 · 2022: 133 · 2021: 95 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 54 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2
FWCI: 40.26
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: European Journal of Personality (publishedVersion)
Kölner Universitäts PublikationsServer (Universität zu Köln) (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
Keywords: conspiracy mentality, conspiracy beliefs, conspiracy theories, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, political attitudes, threat perception, political behavior, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, social action, personality stability

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Speaking (Un–)Truth to Power: Conspiracy Mentality as A Generalised Political Attitude

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