On the Usefulness of the Conspiracy Mentality Concept

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.