The DOI matches its Crossref record; 86 of the 86 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Someone is pulling the strings: hypersensitive agency detection and belief in conspiracy theories
Open accessAbstract
We hypothesised that belief in conspiracy theories would be predicted by the general tendency to attribute agency and intentionality where it is unlikely to exist. We further hypothesised that this tendency would explain the relationship between education level and belief in conspiracy theories, where lower levels of education have been found to be associated with higher conspiracy belief. In Study 1 (N = 202) participants were more likely to agree with a range of conspiracy theories if they also tended to attribute intentionality and agency to inanimate objects. As predicted, this relationship accounted for the link between education level and belief in conspiracy theories. We replicated this finding in Study 2 (N = 330), whilst taking into account beliefs in paranormal phenomena. These results suggest that education may undermine the reasoning processes and assumptions that are reflected in conspiracy belief.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“(2) make sense of their environment [33][34][35]”
From The dark side of social movements: social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories (2020) · cites this paper as [33]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“and the tendency to perceive agency and intentionality where it does not exist (Douglas et al., 2016).”
From The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories (2017) · cites this paper as Douglas et al., 2016
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“and lower levels of education (Douglas, Sutton, Callan, Dawtry, & Harvey, 2016).”
From The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories (2017) · cites this paper as Douglas, Sutton, Callan, Dawtry, & Harvey, 2016
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173 · Cited by 91,532
(2013) · Cited by 44,563
Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical Mediation Analysis in the New Millennium
Hayes, A. F. (2009) · Communication Monographs · doi:10.1080/03637750903310360 · Cited by 9,757
(2000) · Cited by 9,198
Journal of the National Medical Association
(2010) · Journal of the National Medical Association · doi:10.1016/s0027-9684(15)30622-2 · Cited by 5,338
Extensional versus intuitive reasoning: The conjunction fallacy in probability judgment.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1983) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.90.4.293 · Cited by 3,991
An Experimental Study of Apparent Behavior
Heider, F., & Simmel, M. (1944) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1416950 · Cited by 3,340
Trust and commitment in the United States and Japan
Yamagishi, T., & Yamagishi, M. (1994) · Motivation and Emotion · doi:10.1007/bf02249397 · Cited by 2,392
The dirty dozen: A concise measure of the dark triad
Jonason, P. K., & Webster, G. D. (2010) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/a0019265 · Cited by 2,093
The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions
Jolley, D., & Douglas, K. M. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089177 · Cited by 1,232 · cited 4×
“For example, exposure to anti-vaccine conspiracy theories decreases people’s intentions to vaccinate (Jolley & Douglas, 2014b), an effect mediated by feelings of powerlessness, disillusionment and mistrust.”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Coady D., 2006, Conspiracy theories: The philosophical debate
- Douglas K. M., 2015, The psychology of conspiracy (pp. 183–200)
- Plomin R. S., 1997, Political paranoia
- Swami V., 2010, The Psychologist, 23, 560
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 301–400 of 412
Osuagwu, U. L., Agho, K. E., Ekpenyong, B. N., Mashige, K. P., & Ishaya, T. (2024) · doi:10.61588/vbox7053 · Cited by 2
Is the Effect of Educational Attainments on Trust in Scientists Underestimated?
Auchynnikava, A., & Habibov, N. (2024) · Science & Education · doi:10.1007/s11191-024-00551-x · Cited by 2
“Literature also suggests that education lessens the inclination to impute agency and purpose where none exists (Douglas et al., 2015).”
The impact of conspiracy belief on democratic culture: Evidence from Europe
Herold, M. (2024) · Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review · doi:10.37016/mr-2020-165 · Cited by 2
Dialogicality and Conspiracy Theory: The Coexistence of Conspiracist and Non‐Conspiracist Beliefs
Hall, M. S., Franks, B., & Bauer, M. W. (2025) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.3120 · Cited by 3
Butvilauskaitė, G., & Mikuličiūtė, V. (2025) · Psichologija · doi:10.15388/psichol.2025.72.1 · Cited by 2
Buchmayr, F., & Krouwel, A. (2025) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.13085 · Cited by 3
“Concerning education, some authors blame the lower cognitive abilities of people at the lower end of the education spectrum for these effects (Douglas et al., 2016; van Prooijen, 2017; Swami et al., 2014), yet we assume that their marginal position within society might actually be a more plausible…”
Matthias, C., Benn, Y., & Harkin, B. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0323436 · Cited by 2
“This is consistent with research showing that lower educational attainment is linked to a greater likelihood of adopting conspiratorial beliefs and playing a key role in fostering the acceptance of anti-science information [75,76].”
Anti-Gender Fundamentalist Traditionalism and Vulnerability to Misinformation
Righetti, N. (2025) · Journal of Media and Religion · doi:10.1080/15348423.2025.2541098 · Cited by 3
“Individuals with lower educational levels may be more prone to attribute agency and intentionality to events where such attributes are unlikely or non-existent (K. M. Douglas et al., 2016).”
van Es, L., van Prooijen, J., van Buuren, J., & van Veldhuizen, A. (2025) · European Journal of Criminology · doi:10.1177/14773708251351728 · Cited by 2
“Conspiracy theories assume agency, competence, and a deliberate goal of the conspirators (Douglas et al., 2015): The conspirators are not seen as good people with good intentions who implement policies poorly, but as evil people with bad intentions who implement policies effectively.”
On Becoming a Conspiracy Thinker: A Second-Order Adaptive Network Model
Beemster, T., Bijleveld, N., & Jan Treur, A. (2021) · Procedia Computer Science · doi:10.1016/j.procs.2021.06.007 · Cited by 2
The Art of “iWar”: Disinformation Campaign as a Strategy of Informational Autocracy PromotionPreprint
Chang, M.-C., Chang, C.-C., & Lin, T.-H. (2020) · doi:10.33774/apsa-2020-wkkll · Cited by 2
The Psychopathological Antecedents of Conspiracy Belief
Thresher-Andrews, C. (2020) · Goldsmiths (University of London) · doi:10.25602/gold.00030120 · Cited by 2
Leveaux, S., Nera, K., Fagnoni, P., & Klein, P. (2022) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/9p2ca · Cited by 2
Before Fighting, Know your Enemy: What do we Measure With our Scales of Conspiracism?Preprint
Bonetto, É., Arciszewski, T., & Delouvée, S. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/6yt8h · Cited by 2
Moving between two paradigms - sociocultural approach to research of conspiracy theories
Lukić, P. (2020) · Sociologija · doi:10.2298/soc2002193l · Cited by 1
Crenças em Teorias da Conspiração: uma aproximação desde a Psicologia Social
Rezende, A. T., Gouveia, V. V., & Moizéis, H. B. C. (2021) · Interação em Psicologia · doi:10.5380/riep.v25i1.61173 · Cited by 4
Zhu, R., Liu, Q., & Krever, R. (2024) · Journal of Information Communication and Ethics in Society · doi:10.1108/jices-08-2023-0116 · Cited by 1
Connecting Conspiracy Beliefs and Experiences of Social Exclusion
Imhoff, R. (2024) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009408165.014 · Cited by 1
Jucevičiūtė, E., Zamalijeva, O., & Giedraitytė, M. (2024) · Psichologija · doi:10.15388/psichol.2024.70.3 · Cited by 1
Barzen, A. (2025) · Frontiers in Sociology · doi:10.3389/fsoc.2025.1583960 · Cited by 1
“More commonly, belief in conspiracy hypotheses has been linked to anxiety, uncertainty (Douglas et al., 2017), a lack of analytical thinking (Swami et al., 2014), or lower levels of education (Douglas et al., 2016).”
“We don’t need no thought control”: dealing with faculty members spreading conspiracy theories
Siegel, S. T., Troxler, E., & Daumiller, M. H. (2025) · Higher Education · doi:10.1007/s10734-025-01500-5 · Cited by 1
“…involvement in the promotion of CTs is paradoxical and particularly alarming, considering their pivotal role in fostering an environment where students learn to differentiate between different types of knowledge and different forms of reasoning (Douglas et al., 2016; Oleksiyenko & Jackson, 2020).”
Conspiracy beliefs and the preference for natural treatments in medical decision-making
Gagliardi, L. (2025) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105343 · Cited by 1
den Elzen, J. I., Asscher, J. J., Lang, K. M., & Duindam, H. M. (2025) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-025-02250-4 · Cited by 1
Antecedents and consequences of science-related conspiracy beliefs.
Douglas, K. M. (2025) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102191 · Cited by 2
Self-citationBlended dystopia: correlates of popular support for conspiracy theories in Lithuania
Lašas, A., Grišinas, A., & Kalpokas, I. (2025) · Journal of Baltic Studies · doi:10.1080/01629778.2025.2579551 · Cited by 1
“…it is sometimes claimed that gender, age, and education have no impact on support for conspiracy theories (Brotherton 2016; van Prooijen and Acker 2015), but there are also studies with the opposite findings (Constantinou, Kagialis, and Karekla 2021; Douglas et al. 2016; Rezgale et al. 2021).”
The role of the conspiracy narrative triad in operationalizing conspiracy beliefs
Piliousis, A., & Gardikiotis, A. (2026) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-026-09351-8 · Cited by 2
“…and intentionality where it does not exist (agency detection) constitutes a significant predictor of belief in con - spiracy theories (Brotherton & French, 2015; Douglas et al., 2016 ; Imhoff & Bruder, 2014 ), empirically confirming the centrality of this element in the conspiracist worldview.”
InfluentialLüthy, K., Riesmeyer, C., Kühn, J., Forster, F., Radon, K., & Weinmann, T. (2026) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-026-27964-3 · Cited by 1
“Studies suggest that the use of alternative media or belief in conspir-acy theories increases with decreasing levels of education [58, 59].”
Sarıgil, Z., & Dal, A. (2026) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-026-10203-1 · Cited by 1
Werth, L., Seibt, B., & Mayer, J. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-53899-9_2 · Cited by 1
Conspiracist and paranormal beliefs: A typology of non-reductive ideation
Dieckmann, N. F., & Hartman, R. O. (2022) · International Journal of Personality Psychology · doi:10.21827/ijpp.8.38006 · Cited by 3
“…for cognition (Lobato et al., 2014), lower levels of analytic thinking (Swami et al, 2014), seeing agency and intentionality when it is not present (Douglas et al., 2016; although see Dieguez, 2015), and some other general personality traits such as agreeableness and openness (Swami et al., 2010;…”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-Control and Belief in Conspiracy Theories
Heitkamp, A., & Mowen, T. J. (2023) · Social Currents · doi:10.1177/23294965231193382 · Cited by 1
SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS AND RESPONSE TIME TESTING: CONSPIRACY THINKING AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES
Norré, B. F., Tahiri, D., Fernandez, G., Reykowska, D., & Dutta, K. (2023) · Global Fashion Management Conference · doi:10.15444/gmc2023.16.01.01 · Cited by 1
Użytkowe własności wypowiedzi prawdziwościowej. Myślenie spiskowe i prawda w dyskursie publicznym
Stachowiak, J. (2023) · Przegląd Socjologiczny · doi:10.26485/ps/2023/72.4/3 · Cited by 1
Banking and debunking: applying Freirean Theory to the educational challenges of conspiracy culture
Cottrell‐Boyce, A. (2024) · Journal of Philosophy of Education · doi:10.1093/jopedu/qhae020 · Cited by 2
Disqualifiziertes Wissen: Verschwörungstheorien im gesellschaftlichen Diskurs
Väisänen, M., & Anton, A. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-43429-8_3 · Cited by 1
Sallam, M., Al-Mahzoum, K., Alenezi, M. A., Alsaeed, M., Alsaeed, F., Albayati, N., Alkhaldi, S., Obeidat, R. J., & Barakat, M. M. (2024) · COVID · doi:10.3390/covid4090102 · Cited by 1
Bortolotti, L. (2024) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-024-00760-x · Cited by 2
“…agency detection (the tendency to attribute intentionality and agency to inanimate objects), which seem to be closely linked to intentionality, but have more specific effects than generalised formulations of the intentionality bias (see e.g. Brotherton & French 2015; Douglas et al. 2015).”
Human Creativity, Perceptual Rigidity, the Media and Conspiracy Theories in the Age of AI
Fichnová, K., & Peráčková, V. (2024) · Media & Marketing Identity · doi:10.34135/mmidentity-2024-13 · Cited by 1
The Many Tendrils of the Octopus Map
Puerta, E., Spivak, S. C., & Correll, M. (2025) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3706598.3713583 · Cited by 1
“Assigning blame for diverse ills to a single cause is the sine qua non of conspiratorial thinking [34–36 , Tentacularity : this central body possesses a number of “tentacles”: directional threats that may appear to have some degree of independent control while still following the will of the…”
Disinformed Democracies: How Belief Systems and Social Platforms Undermine Public Trust
Silveira, G. A., & Roazzi, A. (2025) · Revista de Gestão e Secretariado (Management and Administrative Professional Review) · doi:10.7769/gesec.v16i6.5065 · Cited by 2
de Gourville, D., Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M. (2025) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.70035 · Cited by 5
Self-citationConspiracy Theories for Journalists
(2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0031 · Cited by 1
Effects of Need for Cognitive Closure and Age on Medical-Related Beliefs of African Americans
Myers, J. R. (2019) · IAFOR Journal of Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.22492/ijpbs.5.1.04 · Cited by 2
“For instance, research has shown a relationship between age and HIV conspiracy beliefs (Bogart, Wagner, Galvan, & Banks, 2010; Bohnert & Latkin, 2009; Ross, Essien, & Torres, 2006), while other studies regarding conspiracy beliefs have either controlled for age or showed no significant effect when analyzed as an indep…”
BackgroundThe Conspiracist Strategy: Lessons from American Alternative Health Promotions
Yair, G. (2019) · European Journal of American Studies · doi:10.4000/ejas.14654 · Cited by 1
COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs among Romanian university students
Lup, O., & Mitrea, E. C. (2021) · Analele Universitatii din Bucuresti - Stiinte Politice · doi:10.54885/nwgi2184 · Cited by 2
Le complotisme : maladie des mal-pensants ?
Arnal, C., Kolinsky, R., & Klein, O. (2022) · Cahiers de psychologie clinique · doi:10.3917/cpc.058.0111 · Cited by 1
Storia, fiction, menzogna e apocalipse: alcune passeggiate nei boschi narrativi di Umberto Eco
Vinci, M. G. (2018) · doi:10.11606/t.8.2018.tde-21052018-153557 · Cited by 1
Ük, B., & Bahçekapılı, H. G. (2022) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-1603792/v1 · Cited by 1
Hypersensitive Agency Detection
Douglas, K. M. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_2273 · Cited by 1
Self-citationDo you trust the rumors? Examining the determinants of health-related misinformation in India.Preprint
Kapoor, H., Gurjar, S., Mahadeshwar, H., Mehta, N., & Puthillam, A. (2023) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/ryb5f · Cited by 1
Harmon‐Jones, E., Szymaniak, K., Sebban, G., & Harmon‐Jones, C. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/2735g · Cited by 1
Perceived Corruption is a Robust Associate of Conspiracy, Paranormal, and Pseudoscience BeliefsPreprint
Alper, S., Düzgün, A., Atalay, E. D., & Yılmaz, O. (2024) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/b5928 · Cited by 1
Stubbersfield, J. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-38971-9_134-1 · Cited by 1
Développer l'esprit critique par la catégorisation multiple
Scheibling‐Sève, C. (2019) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/05ed011fz5164z41a0zaa07z3f978b0d37a1 · Cited by 1
Hypersensitive Agency Detection
Douglas, K. M. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2273-1
Self-citationWhy Do You Believe in Pseudoscience or Disbelieve in Science?
Majima, Y. (2019) · Advances in religious and cultural studies (ARCS) book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-1811-3.ch005
Reply to Neil Levy’s ‘Is Conspiracy Theorising Irrational'
Coady, D. P. (2020) · Figshare
What Makes a Belief Seem Implausible to Others? A Q Methodology Study of Conspiracy Beliefs
Daniel, L. (2020) · UEL Research Repository (University of East London) · doi:10.15123/uel.88850
Campbell, J. D. (2021) · The B E Journal of Theoretical Economics · doi:10.1515/bejte-2019-0184
The measurement and prediction of conspiracy beliefs
Rose, C. (2017) · Figshare · doi:10.26686/wgtn.17060408.v1 · Cited by 3
Contemporary Challenges to Democracy
(2022) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108779104.025
Buts, J. (2022) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003134633-19
Conspiracy trend in everyday practices of social reflection. Theoretical generalisations
Сергеев, В. Н. (2022) · VESTNIK INSTITUTA SOTZIOLOGII · doi:10.19181/vis.2022.13.2.798
Rosenqvist, A., & Ekecrantz, S. (2022) · Springer texts in education · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-14336-6_1
“If you can’t see the pattern here, there’s something wrong”
Mason, J. (2022) · Discourse approaches to politics, society and culture · doi:10.1075/dapsac.98.08mas
The Divine Nature of Conspiracy
Shewell, T. (2021) · Psych-Talk · doi:10.53841/bpstalk.2021.1.99.23
Contagious conspiracy theories and potential pathways to address them
Cookson, D. (2020) · PsyPag Quarterly · doi:10.53841/bpspag.2020.1.115.17
Radicalization and Violent Extremism Depend on Envy; Conspiracy Ideation, Not AlwaysPreprint
Moncrieff, M., & Liénard, P. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/8ur5m
Magyar, B., & Madlovics, B. (2021) · Central European University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9789633863701-014
Imhoff, R. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-40118-4_41
陰謀論信念に影響を与える個人要因に対する熟慮的思考の調整機能の検討Preprint
Ozono, H., & Sakakibara, R. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/vgf6p
Harmon‐Jones, E., Szymaniak, K., Sebban, G., & Harmon‐Jones, C. (2023) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4671274
Összeesküvés-elméletekben való hit, korai maladaptív sémák és személyiségjellemzők
Mirnics, Z., Nagy, V., Szilágyi, T., & Rózsa, S. (2022) · Psychologia Hungarica Caroliensis · doi:10.52993/psyhung.10.2022.3.5
La Relación entre la Mentalidad Conspirativa y los Rasgos Narcisistas
Castillo, M. A. A., Ramírez-Oliver, J. A., Peña-Medina, Y. O., & Sánchez-Vincitore, L. V. (2024) · Revista Caribeña de Psicología · doi:10.37226/rcp.v8i1.8101
Revealing Attentional Biases in Conspiracy Theory BelieversPreprint
Komáromy, Z., Lorusso, A. M., van der Wal, R. C., & Hortensius, R. (2024) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/p2bgy
الإيمان بنظريات المؤامرة: المبادئ الأساسية لمجال بحثي مستجد
جان, و. ف. ب., & دوغلاس, م. د. ك. م. (2023) · The Egyptian Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.21608/ejsbs.2023.347131
Educating New Military Leaders to be Robust against Influence Operations: A Case Study
Østby, K. H. H., Helkala, K. M., & Aasen, O. J. (2024) · European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security · doi:10.34190/eccws.23.1.2100
“There is also research that indicates that a higher level of education reduces the likelihood that individuals will be attracted to conspiracy theories (Douglas et al. 2016).”
BackgroundMitáček, R., Šikýř, M., Skýpalová, R., & Jeřábek, T. (2024) · AD ALTA Journal of Interdisciplinary Research · doi:10.33543/j.1401.202208
#Storytime: An analysis of COVID-19 origin narratives and conspiracies on TikTok
Lorenzo, S. B. (2024) · Atlantic Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/15456870.2024.2420754
“To date, social-psychological studies on conspiracies have largely examined the links between conspiracy theories and cognitive biases (e.g., Douglas et al., 2016; van Elk & Allen, 2015; van Prooijen et al., 2018; Wagner-Egger et al., 2018) through a belief in conspiracy theories (BCT) model.”
Do stress and anxiety lead to belief in conspiracy theories?
Fox, N., & Williams, M. N. (2024) · Routledge Open Research · doi:10.12688/routledgeopenres.17925.2
anon, M., & Yasseri, T. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5030603
Pica, G., Leander, N. P., Nariman, H. S., Hadarics, M., Snook, D. W., Bélanger, J. J., Rullo, M., Mehrez, A., Pierro, A., Sutton, R. M., et al. (2025) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/02654075251327310
“…also Bilewicz et al., 2013; Uscinski & Parent, 2014), and those with low socio-political control (Bruder et al., 2013), lower levels of education (Douglas et al., 2016), belief in a dangerous world (Moulding et al., 2016), relative deprivation (Bilewicz et al., 2013), anomie (Goertzel, 1994),…”
Self-citationGalbraith, D. (2025) · Journal of the Bible and its Reception · doi:10.1515/jbr-2023-0001
Bensley, D. A., Rodrigo, M. F., Bravo, M. J., & Jocoy, K. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-82644-3_4
Conspiracy Theories, Quantum Social Science, and the Political Power of Irrelevant Beliefs
Murphy, M. P. A. (2025) · Social Science Quarterly · doi:10.1111/ssqu.70032
Liu, X., & Cohen, D. (2025) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2025.43.2.67
Jarašiūnaitė–Fedosejeva, G. (2025) · Social Sciences & Humanities Open · doi:10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101642 · Cited by 1
Uscinski, J. E. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.002.0005
Uscinski, J. E. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.002.0003
Kurjanska, M. (2025) · Open Research Europe · doi:10.12688/openreseurope.20538.1
Truthiness versus educational goods: three examples from the post-truth era
Lara‐Steidel, H. (2025) · Journal of Philosophy of Education · doi:10.1093/jopedu/qhaf068
Please reduce the gap! How psychological distance to politics fuels belief in conspiracy theories
Papaioannou, K., & Pantazi, M. (2025) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.70019
“For example, a higher need for cognitive closure or the tendency to attribute agency and anthropomorphism qualities to inanimate objects has been shown to predict a higher propensity to believe in conspiracy theories (Marchlewska et al., 2017; Douglas et al., 2016).”
Huber, R. J. (2025) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2025.108870
Rapp, D. N., Imundo, M. N., & Adler, R. M. (2019) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-64113-853-620251008
Développement et validation d’une mesure des croyances conspirationnistes en santé publique
Ngueutsa, R., Messanga, G., Boua, M., Tchagnéno, C., Etoundi, J., Wassouo, E., Kubiszewski, V., & Lheureux, F. (2025) · Pratiques Psychologiques · doi:10.1016/j.prps.2025.09.003
Freemasonry-related Historical Narratives in Finnish Online Conspiracy Theories
Korpi, O., & Publishing, A. (2025) · Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review · doi:10.5840/asrr2026112134
Conspiracy Beliefs and Cognitive Resilience in the Baltic States
Bērziņš, J. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-10146-4_12
Are Conspiracy Theorists Confabulating?
Murphy‐Hollies, K. (2026) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-025-00783-y
Comment on raisonne sur les explications : philosophie et psychologie du raisonnement explicatif
Mirabile, P. (2020) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/daef9c74z4dd4z4152za292zeb013ca8b625
Leave the world(view) behind, but keep the words: The effect of conspiracism on writing
Miani, A., Adornetti, I., Altavilla, D., Deriu, V., Chiera, A., & Ferretti, F. (2026) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0346496
“They also frequently attribute intentionality [45] and agency to their environment [46,47].”
Metadata
- Authors
- Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., Callan, M. J., Dawtry, R. J., & Harvey, A. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Kent (GB)
- University of Essex (GB)
- Anglia Ruskin University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Douglas, Karen M.
- Venue
- Thinking & Reasoning
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-08-18
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 57-77
- ISSN
- 1354-6783 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-0708
- OpenAlex
- W2282522361
- Cited by
- 414
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 70 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 84.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- public-domain
- Locations
- Thinking & Reasoning (publishedVersion)
- Anglia Ruskin Research Online (Anglia Ruskin University) (acceptedVersion)
- Open Access at Essex (University of Essex) (acceptedVersion)
- Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- The University of Bath Online Publications Store (The University of Bath) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Pure (University of Bath) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- conspiracy beliefs, agency detection, intention attribution, educational attainment, supernatural beliefs, inanimate objects
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
