Lotte Pummerer

University of Bremen | Uni Bremen

Believing in specific conspiracy theories (i.e., explanations for events based on powerholders’ secret arrangements) as well as the general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories—a so-called conspiracy mentality—predicts cognition and behavior with negative societal effects, such as low institutional trust and less societal engagement. During C...

Nowadays, power-holders and subordinates in organizations often collaborate via computer-mediated (rather than face-to-face) communication. Such means of contact provide many benefits, but could also influence how collaboration partners understand their roles: Will a power-holder feel responsible for taking care of his or her subordinates—though s/...

During COVID-19, conspiracy theories were intensely discussed in the media. Generally, both believing in specific conspiracy theories (i.e., explanations for events based on powerholders’ secret arrangements) and the general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories—a so-called conspiracy mentality—have been found to predict cognition and behavior...

2024) The appraisal model of conspiracy theories (AMCT): Applying appraisal theories to understand emotional and behavioral reactions to conspiracy theories. Psychological Inquiry. ISSN 1047-840X. (In press) Kent Academic Repository Downloaded from https://kar.

Misinformation campaigns target wind farms, but levels of agreement with this misinformation among the broader public are unclear. Across six nationally quota-based samples in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia (total N = 6008), over a quarter of respondents agree with half or more of contrarian claims about wind farms. Agreement with...

This commentary in response to Nera (2024, this issue) offers an overview of different operationalizations and conceptualizations of the tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. It distinguishes Conspiracy Mentality (the disposition to believe in any kind of conspiracy theory) from the Belief in Conspiracy Theories (described as latent variable...

Right‐wing movements across the globe call for system‐changing actions. This development contradicts the typically assumed resistance to change among the political right. Many of these movements use conspiracist rhetoric and, thus, we reasoned that conspiracy mentality might be associated with the striving for system change—especially on the politi...

Successful leadership requires leaders to make their followers aware of expectations regarding the goals to achieve, norms to follow, and task responsibilities to take over. This awareness is often achieved through leader-follower communication. In times of economic globalization and digitalization, however, leader-follower communication has become...

People believing in conspiracy theories question mainstream thoughts and behavior, but it is unknown whether it is also linked to lower adherence to the prosocial norms of the broader society. Furthermore, interventions targeting correlates of the belief in conspiracy theories so far are scarce. In four preregistered, mixed-design experiments ( N t...

Reaching net-zero targets requires massive increases in wind energy production, but efforts to build wind farms can meet stern local opposition. Here, inspired by related work on vaccinations, we examine whether opposition to wind farms is associated with a world view that conspiracies are common (‘conspiracy mentality’). In eight pre-registered st...

There are many examples of people believing in conspiracy theories showing non-normative behaviors. But why is this the case? The current contribution proposes that the non-normative behavior of people believing in conspiracy theories is a natural consequence of a different social reality that is associated with the belief in conspiracy theories. T...

There are many examples of people believing in conspiracy theories showing non-normative behaviors. But why is this the case? The current contribution proposes that the non-normative behavior of people believing in conspiracy theories is a natural consequence of a different social reality that is associated with the belief in conspiracy theories. T...

Conspiracy theories often involve topics of uncertainty and ambivalence. One of those topics during the Covid-19 pandemic was the vaccination based on the new method using messenger RNA. In a preregistered study with N = 382 participants, we tested an intervention addressing the uncertainty concerning this new vaccination at a time when conspiracy...

Rationale Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories can have severe consequences; it is therefore crucial to understand this phenomenon, in its similarities with general conspiracy belief, but also in how it is context-dependent. Objective The aim of this systematic review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the available research on COVID-19 c...

Objectives: Increasing vaccination hesitancy threatens societies' capacity to contain pandemics and other diseases. One factor that is positively associated with vaccination intentions is a supportive subjective norm (i.e., the perception that close others approve of vaccination). On the downside, there is evidence that negative attitudes toward v...

Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories can have severe consequences; it is therefore crucial to understand this phenomenon. We present a narrative synthesis of COVID-19 conspiracy belief research from 85 international articles, identified and appraised through a systematic review. We identify a number of significant antecedents of COVID-19 conspira...

The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic from 173 429 respondents in 48 countries. The open science study was co-designed by an international consortium of researchers to investigate how psychological responses differ across countries and cultures, and how this has impacted behaviour, copin...

Kognitive Verhaltenstherapie (KVT) wird als psychotherapeutisches Verfahren am häufigsten in der Praxis angewendet. In der evangelischen Seelsorgelehre wurde diese Form der Therapie hingegen bislang in ihrer Vielfalt kaum angemessen wahrgenommen. Dem Anspruch der aktuellen Poimenik, verschiedene psychologische und psychotherapeutische Strömungen kr...

Soon to be published! Our book about spirituality and meaning discussed in pastoral care and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.

COVID-19 conspiracy theories emerged almost immediately after the beginning of the pandemic, and the number of believers does not appear to decline. Believing in these theories can negatively affect adherence to safety guidelines and vaccination intentions, potentially endangering the lives of many. Thus, one part in successfully fighting the pande...

Religious coping theory suggests that one’s relationship to the sacred can be used as a coping mechanism when encountering distress, and can take positive and negative forms (Pargament, 1997). Positive religious coping has been linked to positive mental health outcomes (Pargament, Falb, Ano, & Wachholtz, 2013), while negative religious coping has b...