Scholarly efforts to understand conspiracy theories have grown significantly in recent years,
and there is now a broad and interdisciplinary literature. In reviewing this body of work, we …

Conspiracy theories are part of mainstream public life, with the potential to undermine
governments, promote racism, ignite extremism and threaten public health efforts …

Societal crises and stressful events are associated with an upsurge of conspiracy beliefs that
may help people to tackle feelings of lack of control. In our study (N= 783), we examined …

In the present contribution, we examine the link between societal crisis situations and belief
in conspiracy theories. Contrary to common assumptions, belief in conspiracy theories has …

Conspiracy theories are ubiquitous (eg, 9/11, COVID-19) and can have negative
consequences (eg, prejudice). Thus, there is an increasing need for evidence-based …

Today, we witness the progress toward global COVID-19 vaccinations organized by
countries worldwide. Experts say a mass vaccination plan is the only effective antidote …

COVID-19 pandemic has led to popular conspiracy theories regarding its origins and
widespread concern over the level of compliance with preventive measures. In the current …

Many citizens around the globe believe conspiracy theories. Why are conspiracy theories so
appealing? Here, we propose that conspiracy theories elicit intense emotions independent …

Although conspiracy theories are endorsed by about half the population and occasionally
turn out to be true, they are more typically false beliefs that, by definition, have a paranoid …

A common assumption is that belief in conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena are
grounded in illusory pattern perception. In the present research we systematically tested this …