Conspiracy Relief: Learned Helplessness and Politically Motivated Belief in Conspiracy Theories

• In Event: The Psychology of Conspiracy Beliefs

Brief Overview

We extend existing work that connects conspiracy belief with the need to restore control. We illustrate that learned helplessness, a measure used to capture loss of control, is linked to conspiracy belief across multiple samples.

Authors

• Christina Farhart, Carleton College

• Joanne M. Miller, University of Delaware

• Kyle L. Saunders, Colorado State University-Fort Collins