The DOI matches its Crossref record; 15 of the 15 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Belief in Conspiracy Theories
Abstract
A survey of 348 residents of southwestern New Jersey showed that most believed that several of a list of 10 conspiracy theories were at least probably true. People who believed in one conspiracy were more likely to also believe in others. Belief in conspiracies was correlated with anomia, lack of interpersonal trust, and insecurity about employment. Black and hispanic respondents were more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than were white respondents. Young people were slightly more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, but there were few significant correlations with gender, educational level, or occupational category.
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In the citing paper
“Research has linked beliefs in conspiracy theories with low levels of trust [8], [33].”
From The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions (2014) · cites this paper as [8]
In the citing paper
“Psychologists are learning more about the traits and characteristics associated with beliefs in conspiracy theories more generally, such as mistrust, anomie, political cynicism and Machiavellianism [8], [20], [31], [50]”
From The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions (2014) · cites this paper as [8]
In the citing paper
“People who endorse one conspiracy are known to be likely to also endorse multiple others”
From The Role of Conspiracist Ideation and Worldviews in Predicting Rejection of Science (2013) · cites this paper as [44]
Citations
Cites
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Personal and Political Sources of Political Alienation
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The Myth of Left-Wing Authoritarianism
Stone, W. S. (1980) · Political Psychology · doi:10.2307/3790998 · Cited by 204
Curran, W. J. (1973) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejm197310042891406 · Cited by 190
The need to have enemies and allies
Chivian, E. (1989) · General Hospital Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/0163-8343(89)90063-7 · Cited by 183
Attitudes, chaos, and the connectionist mind
(1994) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.32-1814 · Cited by 95
Left-Wing Authoritarianism: Myth or Reality?
Eysenck, H. J. (1981) · Political Psychology · doi:10.2307/3791293 · Cited by 63
Goertzel, B. (1993) · Recent research in psychology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4336-6 · Cited by 51
(1997) · Cambridge Archaeological Journal · doi:10.1017/s0959774300001979 · Cited by 49
Roots of Radicalism: Jews, Christians, and the New Left
Rothman, S., & Lichter, R. S. (1982) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 49
Authoritarianism of Personality and Political Attitudes
Goertzel, T. G. (1987) · The Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/19401183.1987.12461531 · Cited by 27
Self-citationConspiracy: History and Social Psychology—A Synopsis
Graumann, C. F. (1987) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4618-3_15 · Cited by 21
Turncoats and True Believers: The Dynamics of Political Belief and Disillusionment.
Mueller, C. M., & Goertzel, T. G. (1994) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2074875 · Cited by 6
Self-citationWilkinson, S. (1993) · The New York times book review · Cited by 2
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TRUST AND DISTRUST IN ORGANIZATIONS: Emerging Perspectives, Enduring Questions
Kramer, R. M. (1999) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.569 · Cited by 3,415
Understanding Conspiracy Theories
Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S., & Deravi, F. (2019) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12568 · Cited by 1,511
“Indeed, research shows that members of low-status social groups are more likely to endorse conspiracy theories than members of high-status groups (Abalakina-Paap et al., 1999; Crocker, Luhtanen, Broadnax, & Blaine, 1999; Goertzel, 1994; Uscinski & Parent, 2014).”
BackgroundInfluentialSusceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
Roozenbeek, J., Schneider, C. R., Dryhurst, S., Kerr, J., Freeman, A. L. J., Recchia, G., van der Bles, A. M., & van der Linden, S. (2020) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.201199 · Cited by 1,447
“Recent research suggests that conspiracy beliefs are more common among ‘those who are more marginalized, reflected by lower levels of psychological well-being, education, and income’ [16,17,23].”
BackgroundMethodThe Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721417718261 · Cited by 1,316
“These are examples of conspiracy theories—explanations for important events that involve secret plots by powerful and malevolent groups (e.g., Goertzel, 1994).”
BackgroundThe 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
“Psychologists are learning more about the traits and characteristics associated with beliefs in conspiracy theories more generally, such as mistrust, anomie, political cynicism and Machiavellianism [8], [20], [31], [50], and it will be useful to know if the same, or different factors predict anti-vaccine conspiracy be…”
Influential
Metadata
- Authors
- Goertzel, T.
- Corresponding author
- Goertzel, Ted
- ORCID
- Goertzel, Ted
- Venue
- Political Psychology
- Publisher
- JSTOR
- Published
- 1994-12
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 731
- ISSN
- 0162-895X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2315116440
- Cited by
- 1,094
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 64 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 119 · 2023: 111 · 2022: 171 · 2021: 140 · 2020: 89 · 2019: 58 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 1.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Political Psychology (publishedVersion)
- 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 › Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
- Keywords
- conspiracy theories, conspiracy beliefs, anomie, interpersonal trust, job insecurity, racial differences, age differences
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