Thinking the Relationships Between Conspiracy Mentality and Belief in Conspiracy Theories

Abstract

Abstract: In this response, I synthetize and expand on key points of agreement and on nuances brought up by Imhoff, Pummerer, and Sutton and colleagues in this issue ( 2024 ). I also attempt to further clarify the concept of conspiracy mentality. Building on Imhoff and Bruder’s (2014) conceptualization of conspiracy mentality as a generalized political attitude, I propose to adopt the working assumption that conspiracy mentality consists in a worldview, that is, a set of descriptive beliefs and assumptions about how the world functions. Adopting this assumption clarifies the questions of the constituents (descriptive beliefs – whose content remains to be investigated) and associates (e.g., prescriptive beliefs, behaviors) of conspiracy mentality. It also clarifies the causal mechanisms through which conspiracy mentality may foster the endorsement of specific conspiracy beliefs (e.g., through motivated reasoning), and vice versa (e.g., through inductive reasoning). I propose five basic working assumptions to facilitate research on this topic.