Dialogicality and conspiracy theory: the coexistence of conspiracist and non-conspiracist beliefs

Hall, Matthew, Franks, Bradley ORCID: 0000-0002-6667-6172 and Bauer, Martin W. ORCID: 0000-0002-0800-8133 (2025) Dialogicality and conspiracy theory: the coexistence of conspiracist and non-conspiracist beliefs. European Journal of Social Psychology. ISSN 0046-2772

Text (Euro J Social Psych - 2025 - Hall - Dialogicality and Conspiracy Theory The Coexistence of Conspiracist and) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (330kB)

• Scopus publication

Abstract

This study investigates how people who believe in conspiracy theory (CT) hold those beliefs. It considers whether believing a conspiracist explanation of an issue or event permits or precludes also believing a non‐conspiracist explanation—that is, the degree to which endorsing CTs can be dialogical. Dialogicality involves the coexistence of conspiracist and non‐conspiracist beliefs in advancing claims and contrasts with the view that all conspiracist belief endorsement is monological or ‘closed’ from other explanations. Thematic analysis of 39 semi‐structured interviews revealed five modalities of belief coexistence: cognitive dissonance between beliefs, analogical beliefs, target‐dependent beliefs, synthetic beliefs, and integrative beliefs. This spanned beliefs about the self, ingroup, outgroup, reality, action and the future, on topics concerning science, religion, and politics and society. These findings challenge the view that all CTs are monological belief systems: CT believers recruit both conspiracist and non‐conspiracist explanations in building their worldview. Several hypotheses for further research emerge from this challenge to the basic assumption of much research on CTs.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Psychological and Behavioural Science
Subjects:	H Social Sciences B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date Deposited:	27 Sep 2024 10:33
Last Modified:	01 Feb 2025 04:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125549

Actions (login required)

View Item