Creating Conspiracy Beliefs - How Our Thoughts Are Shaped

Drawing on psychology, political science, communication, and information sciences, this book explores the birth of conspiracy theories.

List of contents

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. A framework for understanding how conspiracy beliefs are created; 3. The consequences of conspiracy beliefs; 4. Anxiety, psychological motivations, and conspiracy beliefs; 5. Socio-political factors and conspiracy beliefs; 6. The relation between media and anxiety; 7. The influence of norms and social networks on conspiracy beliefs; 8. Influences of media and anxiety in a psychological and sociopolitical context; 9. Conclusions; Appendix.

About the author

Dolores Albarracín is Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Julia Albarracín is Professor of Political Science at Western Illinois University.Man-pui Sally Chan is Research Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Kathleen Hall Jamieson is Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of its Policy Center.

Summary

Conspiracy theories spread more widely and faster than ever before. It is vital that we understand the psychological and political causes as well as the role of the media. This timely book achieves that goal with six original, empirical studies and a novel theory of how conspiracy theories operate.

Product details

• Authors: Dolores Albarracin, Dolores (University of Illinois Albarracin, Julia Albarracin, Albarracin Dolores, Man-pui Sally Chan, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Jamieson Kathleen Hall
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2021
• EAN: 9781108845786
• ISBN: 978-1-108-84578-6
• No. of pages: 200
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Applied psychology; PSYCHOLOGY / Emotions, PSYCHOLOGY / Social Psychology, Psychology, PSYCHOLOGY / Cognitive Psychology & Cognition, Psychology: emotions, Cognition & cognitive psychology, Social, group or collective psychology, Cognition and cognitive psychology