Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures*

By Cass R. Sunstein, Adrian Vermeule. 2009

789 citations recorded by the source corpus.

“THE truth is out there”: conspiracy theories are all around us. In August 2004, a poll by Zogby International showed that 49 percent of New York City residents, with a margin of error of 3.5 percent, believed that officials of the U.S. government “knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act.” In a Scripps-Howard Poll in 2006, some 36 percent of respondents assented to the claim that “federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade Center or took no action to stop them.” Sixteen percent said that it was either very likely or somewhat likely that “the collapse of the twin towers in New York was aided by explosives secretly planted in the two buildings.” Conspiracy theories can easily be found all over the world. Among sober-minded Canadians, a September 2006 poll found that 22 percent believed that “the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 had nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden and were actually a plot by influential Americans.” In a poll conducted in seven Muslim countries, 78 percent of respondents said that they do not believe the 9/11 attacks were carried out by Arabs. The most popular

Subfields: Sociology and Political Science

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In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Belief in conspiracy theories: The influence of uncertainty and perceived morality (2013, background): “Conspiracy beliefs are widespread, as evidenced by findings that they occur among a substantial portion of the population of modern Western societies (Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009; Pipes, 1997).”
Mistrust and misinformation: A two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories (2020, background): “…or fueled by online “trolls” and “conspiracy theory entrepreneurs” who may have low degrees of actual belief conviction themselves (Bessi et al., 2015; Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009), but are motivated to “erode trust in facts and reality” (Lewandowsky, Ecker, & Cook, 2017, p. 361), whether to sow…”
An examination of the underlying dimensional structure of three domains of contaminated mindware: paranormal beliefs, conspiracy beliefs, and anti-science attitudes (2020, neutral): “In the absence of a single definition of conspiracy (Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009), a conspiracist belief can be viewed as “ the unnecessary assumption of conspiracy when other explanations are more probable ” (Aaronovitch, 2009, p. 5) and an attempt to attribute the cause of an event to secret plots…”
The spreading of misinformation online (2016, background): “This disintermediated environment can foster confusion about causation, and thus encourage speculation, rumors, and mistrust (6).”
When consequence size predicts belief in conspiracy theories: The moderating role of perspective taking (2014, background): “…in conspiracy theories can be widespread: For instance, in 2004, 49% of New York city residents believed that the US government was complicit in the 9-11 terrorist strikes (Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009), and in 1991, 56% of US citizens believed in one of the JFK-conspiracy theories (Pipes, 1997).”
The dark side of meaning-making: How social exclusion leads to superstitious thinking (2017, background): “On the one hand, they contribute to the burgeoning literature investigating the cognitive ingredients of conspiratorial thinking (Douglas, Sutton, Callan, Dawtry, & Harvey, 2016; Prooijen & Acker, 2015; Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009; Whitson & Galinsky, 2008).”
The Influence of Control on Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Conceptual and Applied Extensions (2015, background): “Large numbers of ordinary citizens believe in conspiracy theories, and hence, most conspiracy beliefs cannot be dismissed as pathological (Oliver & Wood, 2014; Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009).”
The conspiracy-effect: Exposure to conspiracy theories (about global warming) decreases pro-social behavior and science acceptance (2015, background): “Indeed , while some conspiracy theories are merely false, others are based on beliefs that are not only false but also harmful (Maibach, 2012; Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009).”
Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI (2024, neutral): “Suchprevalenceis particularly concerning because conspiracy belief is often used as a paradigmatic example of resistance to evidence ( 8 – 10 ): There is little evidence of interventions that successfully debunk con-spiracies among people who already believe them ( 11 , 12 ).”
Examining the Alternative Media Ecosystem Through the Production of Alternative Narratives of Mass Shooting Events on Twitter (2017, background): “Sunstein & Vermeule (2009) write that contrary to popular framings, belief in conspiracy theories does not imply mental illness, but is instead indicative of a “crippled epistemology” due in part to a limited number of information sources.”
The Nature and Origins of Misperceptions: Understanding False and Unsupported Beliefs About Politics (2017, background): “Conspiracy theories, on the other hand, refer to claims that seek “to explain some event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who attempt to conceal their role” (Sunstein & Vermeule, 2009, p. 205).”