The Influence of Control on Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Conceptual and Applied Extensions

By J. Prooijen, M. Acker. 2015

286 citations recorded by the source corpus.

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

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/edd1a3b63394927612e3ec91d4437b71214133d6

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Citations in the corpus

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).”
COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: Relations with anxiety, quality of life, and schemas (2021, unknown): “…Prooijen, 2020; Van Prooijen & Douglas, 2017) and in situations characterized by increased uncertainty, anxiety, and perceived lack of control (Bruder et al., 2013; GrzesiakFeldman, 2013; Van Prooijen & Acker, 2015; Van Prooijen & Douglas, 2017; Van Prooijen & Jostmann, 2013; Whitson et al., 2015).”
Psychological, Political, and Situational Factors Combine to Boost COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory Beliefs (2020, background): “Finally, situations that give rise to uncertainty can lead to CT beliefs (van Prooijen and Acker, 2015).”
Epistemic rationality: Skepticism toward unfounded beliefs requires sufficient cognitive ability and motivation to be rational (2018, background): “…beliefs are promoted by various epistemic and existential motives, such as the need for control (Van Prooijen&Acker, 2015; Whitson&Galinsky, 2008), uncertainty management (Van Prooijen& Jostmann, 2013), terror management (Newheiser et al., 2011), and ideology protection (Van Prooijen et al., 2015).”
Putting the stress on conspiracy theories: Examining associations between psychological stress, anxiety, and belief in conspiracy theories (2016, background): “In such a climate, some individuals may engage in sense-making processes aimed at restoring individual agency and a belief that the world is orderly and predictable (van Prooijen & Acker, 2015).”
Resolving the Puzzle of Conspiracy Worldview and Political Activism: Belief in Secret Plots Decreases Normative but Increases Nonnormative Political Engagement (2021, background): “…control (Sullivan et al., 2010; van Prooijen & Acker, 2015; Whitson & Galinsky, 2008) and correlational findings (Imhoff & Bruder, 2014; Imhoff & Lamberty, 2018; van Prooijen, 2016; van Prooijen & Acker, 2015) point to an association of lack of control with increased beliefs in conspiracy theories.”
Conspiracy Beliefs and Violent Extremist Intentions: The Contingent Effects of Self-efficacy, Self-control and Law-related Morality (2020, background): “Despite vast differences within these conspiracy theories, they tend to share similar underlying psychological mechanisms such as fundamental sense-making processes about distressing and threatening societal events in order to provide explanations of these complex issues.(32) Depicted as such, the l”
“I Know Things They Don’t Know!”: The Role of Need for Uniqueness in Belief in Conspiracy Theories (2017, background): “…& Douglas, research suggests that conspiracy theories may perform certain functions for the self, allowing people to regain a sense of control (van Prooijen & Acker, 2015; Whitson & Galinsky, 2008), order (Van Harreveld, Rutjens, Schneider, Nohlen, & Keskinis, 2014), power (Gray, 2010;…”
Anxious attachment and belief in conspiracy theories (2018, unknown): “Experimental research supports this view, showing that when people were reminded of a time when they had no control, endorsement of conspiracy theories increased, whereas belief decreased when a sense of control was induced (van Prooijen & Acker, 2015).”
Examining the Alternative Media Ecosystem Through the Production of Alternative Narratives of Mass Shooting Events on Twitter (2017, background): “…sites in different forms, combined with what we know about how believing in one conspiracy theory makes a person more likely to believe another (van Prooijen & Acker, 2015), suggests that alternative media domains may be acting as a breeding ground for the transmission of conspiratorial ideas.”