Authors:	Imhoff, Roland
Title:	On the Usefulness of the Conspiracy Mentality Concept
Online publication date:	30-Apr-2024
Year of first publication:	2024
Language:	english
Abstract:	The current commentary aims at defending the usefulness of the conspiracy mentality construct and emphasize its advantages over other ways to conceptualize and measure conspiracy beliefs. In contrast to specific conspiracy theories, items tapping into conspiracy mentality are typically not ideologically laden and are typically neither true nor false. They thus provide a purer measure of endorsing a conspiracy worldview – independent of ideological leaning or concerns of accuracy. Responding to Nera’s complaint about a Black Box definition of conspiracy mentality, the current commentary argues that the current state of the literature goes beyond that. Far from defining conspiracy mentality only in terms of agreeing with specific conspiracy theories, scholars have postulated its constituents (e.g., anti-elitism) and established some associates (e.g., generalized distrust). Whether a more fine-grained approach to conspiracy mentality as a multi-faceted construct will provide more useful is to be conceptually argued and empirically demonstrated instead of merely claimed.
DDC:	150 Psychologie 150 Psychology
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 02 Sozialwiss., Medien u. Sport
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-10343
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Document type specification:	Scientific article
License:	CC BY-NC
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Journal:	Zeitschrift für Psychologie 231 1
Pages or article number:	59 63
Publisher:	Hogrefe
Publisher place:	Götingen
Issue date:	2024
ISSN:	2151-2604
Publisher DOI:	10.1027/2151-2604/a000550
Appears in collections:	DFG-491381577-H