An Existential Threat Model of Conspiracy Theories

By Jan‐Willem van Prooijen. European Psychologist, 2020

183 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract. People endorse conspiracy theories particularly when they experience existential threat, that is, feelings of anxiety or uncertainty often because of distressing societal events. At the same time, such feelings also often lead people to support groups frequently implicated in conspiracy theories (e.g., the government). The present contribution aims to resolve this paradox by proposing an Existential Threat Model of Conspiracy Theories, which stipulates under what conditions existential threat does versus does not stimulate conspiracy theories. The model specifically illuminates that feelings of existential threat increase epistemic sense-making processes, which in turn stimulate conspiracy theories only when antagonistic outgroups are salient. Moreover, once formed conspiracy theories are not functional to reduce feelings of existential threat; instead, conspiracy theories can be a source of existential threat in itself, stimulating further conspiracy theorizing and contributing to a generalized conspiracist mindset. In the discussion, I discuss implications of the model, and illuminate how one may base interventions on the model to breaks this cyclical process and reduce conspiracy beliefs.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Literature and Literary Theory, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cc5b4fb88867148f871060aaa1071510134cec12

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Citations in the corpus

Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI (2024, background): “Popular explanations propose that people adopt conspiracy theories to sate underlying psychic “ needs ” or motivations, such as thedesirefor control over one ’ s environment and experiences ( 15 ), certainty and predictability ( 20 ), security and stability ( 21 ), and uniqueness ( 22 ).”