Many people believe conspiracy theories, even though such beliefs are harmful to
themselves and their social environment. What is the appeal of conspiracy theories? In this …

While conspiracy theories may offer benefits to those who believe in them, they can also
foster intergroup conflict, threaten democracy, and undercut public health. We argue that the …

Background Conspiracy beliefs are associated with detrimental health attitudes during the
coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Most prior research on these issues was …

There are many examples of people believing in conspiracy theories showing non-
normative behaviors. But why is this the case? The current contribution proposes that the …

A well-established finding is that beliefs in contradictory conspiracy theories (eg, Princess
Diana was murdered vs. faked her own death) are positively correlated. This is commonly …

Previous literature on conspiracy beliefs has an important gap, as it has almost completely
excluded conspiracy beliefs relating to LGBTQ+ people. The purpose of the present …

Conspiracy beliefs have been studied mostly through cross‐sectional designs. We
conducted a five‐wave longitudinal study (N= 376; two waves before and three waves after …

Conspiracy theories are widespread and have a profound impact on society. The present
contribution proposes that conspiracy theories are explanatory narratives that necessarily …

By assuming that a group of nefarious actors collude to harm a perceiver's ingroup,
conspiracy theories are an intergroup phenomenon. What are the group-oriented …

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by a massive flood of “fake
news”, conspiracy theories, and distorted information more generally. Alternative news …