Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T13:56:55.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Part II - Recruiting and Maintaining Followers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2023

Monica K. Miller
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
Get access

Summary

Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Chapter
Information
The Social Science of QAnon
A New Social and Political Phenomenon
, pp. 15 - 120
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Anderson Cooper 360. (2021, January 30). Former QAnon supporter to Cooper: I apologize for thinking you ate babies. CNN.com. www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/01/30/anderson-cooper-former-qanon-supporter-special-report-sot-ac360-vpx.cnnGoogle Scholar
Andrews, T. M. (2020a, October 24). He’s a former QAnon believer. He doesn’t want to tell his story, but thinks it might help. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/24/qanon-believer-conspiracy-theory/Google Scholar
Andrews, T. M. (2020b, November 11). She fell into QAnon and went viral for destroying a Target mask display. Now she’s rebuilding her life. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/11/masks-qanon-target-melissa-rein-lively/Google Scholar
Argentino, M.-A. (2020a, May 18). The church of QAnon: Will conspiracy theories form the basis of a new religious movement? The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-church-of-qanon-will-conspiracy-theories-form-the-basis-of-a-new-religious-movement-137859Google Scholar
Argentino, M.-A. (2020b, May 28). In the name of the father, son, and Q: Why it’s important to see QAnon as a “hyper-real” religion. Religion Dispatches. https://religiondispatches.org/in-the-name-of-the-father-son-and-q-why-its-important-to-see-qanon-as-a-hyper-real-religion/Google Scholar
Aubrey, S. (2020, September 27). “Playing with fire”: The curious marriage of QAnon and wellness. The Sydney Morning Herald. www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/playing-with-fire-the-curious-marriage-of-qanon-and-wellness-20200924-p55yu7.htmlGoogle Scholar
Betsch, C., Korn, L., & Holtmann, C. (2015). Don’t try to convert the antivaccinators, instead target the fence-sitters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112, E6725E6726.Google Scholar
Borum, R. (2011). Radicalization into violent extremism I: A review of social science theories. Journal of Strategic Security, 4, 736.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrier, A. (2021, February 19). “This crap means more to him than my life”: When QAnon invades American homes. Politico. www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/19/qanon-conspiracy-theory-family-members-reddit-forum-469485Google Scholar
Chang, A. (2018, August 8). We analyzed every QAnon post on Reddit. Here’s who QAnon supporters actually are. Vox. www.vox.com/2018/8/8/17657800/qanon-reddit-conspiracy-dataGoogle Scholar
Cook, J. (2020, November 28). Online anti-vax communities have become a pipeline for QAnon radicalization. Huffington Post. www.huffpost.com/entry/qanon-anti-vax-coronavirus_n_5fbeb0c0c5b61d04bfa6921aGoogle Scholar
Cox, D. A. (2021, March 4). Social isolation and community disconnection are not spurring conspiracy theories. www.americansurveycenter.org/research/social-isolation-and-community-disconnection-are-not-spurring-conspiracy-theories/#_edn11Google Scholar
Dickinson, T. (2021, February 10). How the anti-vaxxers got red-pilled. Rolling Stone. www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-anti-vax-covid-vaccine-conspiracy-theory-1125197/Google Scholar
Dickson, E. (2020). Former QAnon followers explain what drew them in – and got them out. Rolling Stone. www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ex-qanon-followers-cult-conspiracy-theory-pizzagate-1064076/Google Scholar
Edelman, G. (2020, October 6). QAnon supports aren’t quite who you think they are. Wired. www.wired.com/story/qanon-supporters-arent-quite-who-you-think-they-are/Google Scholar
Franks, B., Bangerter, A., Bauer, M. W., Hall, M., & Noort, M. C. (2017). Beyond “monologicality”? Exploring conspiracist worldviews. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 861.Google Scholar
Galanter, M. (1990). Cults and zealous self-help movements: A psychiatric perspective. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 543551.Google Scholar
Gallagher, A., Davey, J., & Hart, M. (2020). The genesis of a conspiracy theory. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/The-Genesis-of-a-Conspiracy-Theory.pdfGoogle Scholar
Grable, R. R. (2020, May 21). My father, the QAnon conspiracy theorist. Narratively. https://narratively.com/my-father-the-qanon-conspiracy-theorist/Google Scholar
Grametz, J. (2020, August 11). Reddit community QAnon Casualties share stories of conspiracy cult. News.com.au. www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/reddit-community-qanon-casualties-share-stories-of-conspiracy-cult/news-story/8a48754da503954647a61f91d22b304bGoogle Scholar
Hart, J., & Graether, M. (2018). Something’s going on here: Psychological predictors of belief in conspiracy theories. Journal of Individual Differences, 39, 229237.Google Scholar
Hawkins, E. (2020, September 9). Dr. Joseph Pierre: UCLA psychiatrist takes on QAnon and “rescuing” loved ones. Heavy. https://heavy.com/news/2020/09/joseph-pierre-qanon/Google Scholar
Hoffer, E. (1951). The true believer: Thoughts on the nature of mass movements. Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Hon, A. (2020, August 5). What alternate reality games teach us about the dangerous appeal of QAnon. Vice. www.vice.com/en/article/qj4xbm/what-alternate-reality-games-teach-us-about-the-dangerous-appeal-of-qanonGoogle Scholar
Ipsos. (2020, December 30). More than 1 in 3 Americans believe a “deep state” is working to undermine Trump. www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/npr-misinformation-123020Google Scholar
Jaffe, G., & Del Real, J. A. (2021, February 23). Life amid the ruins of QAnon: “I wanted my family back.” The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/conspiracy-theories-qanon-family-members/Google Scholar
Jamison, P., Natanson, H., Cox, J. W., & Horton, A. (2021, January 10). “The storm is here”: Ashli Babbitt’s journey from Capital “guardian” to invader. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/01/09/ashli-babbitt-capitol-shooting-trump-qanon/Google Scholar
Klein, C., Clutton, P., & Dunn, A. G. (2019). Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit’s conspiracy theory forum. PLoS ONE, 14(11), e0225098.Google Scholar
Kranish, M., Thebault, R., & McCrummen, S. (2021, January 30). How Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, promoter of QAnon’s baseless theories, rose with support from key Republicans. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/greene-qanon-house-trump-republicans/2021/01/30/321b4258-623c-11eb-ac8f-4ae05557196e_story.htmlGoogle Scholar
Kruglanski, A. W., Jasko, K., Chernikova, M., Dugas, M., & Webber, D. (2017). To the fringe and back: Violent extremism and the psychology of deviance. American Psychologist, 72, 217230.Google Scholar
Lamoureux, M. (2019, July 11). People tell us how QAnon destroyed their relationships. Vice. www.vice.com/en/article/xwnjx4/people-tell-us-how-qanon-destroyed-their-relationshipsGoogle Scholar
Lord, B., & Naik, R. (2020, October 18). He went down the QAnon rabbit hole for almost two years. Here’s how he got out. CNN. www.cnn.com/2020/10/16/tech/qanon-believer-how-he-got-out/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Love, S. (2020, December 16). “Conspirituality” explains why the wellness world fell for QAnon. Vice. www.vice.com/en/article/93wq73/conspirituality-explains-why-the-wellness-world-fell-for-qanonGoogle Scholar
Lyttleton, J. (2020, July 5). Is QAnon a cult? The Millennial Source. https://themilsource.com/2020/07/05/is-qanon-a-cult/Google Scholar
Lytvynenko, J. (2020, September 18). Friends and family members of QAnon believers are going through a “surreal goddamn nightmare.” www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/qanon-families-friendsGoogle Scholar
McCauley, C., & Moskalenko, S. (2008). Mechanisms of political radicalization: Pathways towards terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 20, 415433.Google Scholar
Minutaglio, R. (2018, August 24). My boyfriend reads QAnon theories. I still love him – but I’m worried. Esquire. www.esquire.com/news-politics/a22664244/qanon-boyfriend-conspiracy-theorist-my-partner-deep-state/Google Scholar
Ohlheiser, A. (2020, August 26). Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead. MIT Technology Review. www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/26/1007611/how-qanon-is-targeting-evangelicals/Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. (2020, November 16). 5 facts about the QAnon conspiracy theories. www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/16/5-facts-about-the-qanon-conspiracy-theories/Google Scholar
Piccinni, P., Marazziti, D., & Veltri, A. (2018). Psychopathology of terrorists. CNS Spectrums, 23, 141144.Google Scholar
Pierre, J. M. (2001). Faith or delusion: At the crossroads of religion and psychosis. Journal of Psychiatric Practice, 7(3), 163172.Google Scholar
Pierre, J. M. (2019). Integrating non-psychiatric models of delusion-like beliefs into forensic psychiatric assessment. American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 47, 171179.Google Scholar
Pierre, J. M. (2020a). Forensic psychiatry versus the variety of delusion-like beliefs. American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 48, 327334.Google Scholar
Pierre, J. M. (2020b). Mistrust and misinformation: A two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 8, 617641.Google Scholar
Pies, R. W., & Pierre, J. M. (2021, February 4). Believing in conspiracy theories in not delusional. Medscape Psychiatry. www.medscape.com/viewarticle/945290Google Scholar
Raab, M. H., Ortlieb, S. A., Auer, N., Guthmann, K., & Carbon, C.-C. (2013). Thirty shades of truth: Conspiracy theories as stories of individuation, not of pathological delusion. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 406.Google Scholar
Rip, B., Vallerand, R. J., & Lafreniere, M. K. (2012). Passion for a cause, passion for a creed: On ideological passion, identity threat, and extremism. Journal of Personality, 80, 573602.Google Scholar
Rogers, K. (2021, March 4). Why QAnon has attracted so many white evangelicals. FiveThirtyEight. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-qanon-has-attracted-so-many-white-evangelicals/Google Scholar
Roose, K. (2020, August 12). QAnon followers are hijacking the #SaveTheChildren movement. New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/technology/qanon-save-the-children-trafficking.htmlGoogle Scholar
Roose, K. (2021, January 17). A QAnon “digital soldier” marches on, undeterred by theory’s unraveling. New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/technology/qanon-meme-queen.htmlGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, A. (2019, August 7). I understand the temptation to dismiss QAnon. Here’s why we can’t. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/07/qanon-isnt-just-conspiracy-theory-its-highly-effective-game/Google Scholar
Rousselet, M., Duretete, O., Hardoun, J. B., & Grall-Bronec, M. (2017). Cult membership: What factors contribute to joining of leaving? Psychiatry Research, 257, 2733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sawyer, J. P., & Heinz, J. (2017). What makes them do it? Individual-level indicators of extremist outcomes. In LaFree, G. & Freilich, J. D. (Eds.), The handbook of criminology and terrorism (1st ed. pp. 4761). Wiley.Google Scholar
Schaffner, B. (2020). QAnon and conspiracy beliefs. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/qanon-and-conspiracy-beliefs.pdfGoogle Scholar
Scherer, L. D., McPhetres, J., Pennycook, G., Kempe, A., Allen, L. A., Knoepke, C. E., Tate, C. E., & Matlock, D. D. (2021). Who is susceptible to online health misinformation? A test of four psychosocial hypotheses. Health Psychology, 40(4), 274284.Google Scholar
Spring, M. (2020, July 15). Wayfair: The false conspiracy about a furniture firm and child trafficking. BBC News. www.bbc.com/news/world-53416247Google Scholar
Stephansky, J. (2020, October 16). In QAnon-linked US candidates, populism meets conspiracy. Al Jazeera. www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/16/in-qanon-linked-us-candidates-populism-meets-conspiracyGoogle Scholar
Sunstein, C. R., & Vermeule, A. (2009). Conspiracy theories: Causes and cures. Journal of Political Philosophy, 17, 202227.Google Scholar
Sussman, C. J., Harper, J. M., Stahl, J. L., & Weigle, P. (2018). Internet and video game addictions: Diagnosis, epidemiology, and neurobiology. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinics of North America, 27, 307326.Google Scholar
The Economist/YouGov. (2021). The Economist/YouGov Poll, January 10–12, 2021. https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/4yijjbkc2z/econTabReport.pdfGoogle Scholar
Ungerleider, J. T., & Wellisch, D. K. (1979). Coercive persuasion (brainwashing), religious cults, and deprogramming. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 279282.Google Scholar
Ward, C., & Voas, D. (2011). The emergence of conspirituality. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 26, 103121.Google Scholar
Watt, C. S. (2020, September 23). The QAnon orphans: People who have lost their loved ones to conspiracy theories. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/23/qanon-conspiracy-theories-loved-onesGoogle Scholar
Zadrozny, B., & Collins, B. (2020, August 21). QAnon looms behind national rallies and viral #SaveTheChildren hashtags. NBC News. www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanon-looms-behind-nationwide-rallies-viral-hashtags-n1237722Google Scholar

References

Abalakina‐Paap, M., Stephan, W. G., Craig, T., & Gregory, W. L. (1999). Beliefs in conspiracies. Political Psychology, 20(3), 637647.Google Scholar
Abramson, A. (2017, March 8). President Trump’s allies keep talking about the “Deep State”. What’s that? Time. https://time.com/4692178/donald-trump-deep-state-breitbart-barack-obama/Google Scholar
Barron, D., Furnham, A., Weis, L., Morgan, K. D., Towell, T., & Swami, V. (2018). The relationship between schizotypal facets and conspiracist beliefs via cognitive processes. Psychiatry Research, 259, 1520.Google Scholar
Bertin, P., Nera, K., Hamer, K., Uhl-Haedicke, I., & Delouvée, S. (2021). Stand out of my sunlight: The mediating role of climate change conspiracy beliefs in the relationship between national collective narcissism and acceptance of climate science. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cnmfaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biddlestone, M., Green, R., Cichocka, A., Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M. (2022). A systematic review and meta-analytic synthesis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs. PsyArXiv.Google Scholar
Biddlestone, M., Green, R., Cichocka, A., Sutton, R. M., & Douglas, K. M. (2021). Conspiracy beliefs and the individual, relational, and collective selves. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 15(10), e12639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bracewell, L. (2021). Gender, populism, and the QAnon conspiracy movement. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, 615727.Google Scholar
Brotherton, R., & French, C. C. (2014). Belief in conspiracy theories and susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28(2), 238248.Google Scholar
Cichocka, A., Marchlewska, M., & De Zavala, A. G. (2016a). Does self-love or self-hate predict conspiracy beliefs? Narcissism, self-esteem, and the endorsement of conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7(2), 157166.Google Scholar
Cichocka, A., Marchlewska, M., Golec de Zavala, A., & Olechowski, M. (2016b). “They will not control us”: Ingroup positivity and belief in intergroup conspiracies. British Journal of Psychology, 107(3), 556576.Google Scholar
Coda Story. (2021, June 9). Living with Q: How QAnon is Destroying the Private Lives of Americans [Video]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTNkFfkxGjMGoogle Scholar
Dagnall, N., Denovan, A., Drinkwater, K., Parker, A., & Clough, P. (2017). Statistical bias and endorsement of conspiracy theories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 31(4), 368378.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., Callan, M. J., Dawtry, R. J., & Harvey, A. J. (2016). Someone is pulling the strings: Hypersensitive agency detection and belief in conspiracy theories. Thinking & Reasoning, 22(1), 5777.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The psychology of conspiracy theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538542.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S., & Devari, F. (2019). Understanding conspiracy theories. Political Psychology, 40, 335.Google Scholar
Duckitt, J., Wagner, C., Du Plessis, I., & Birum, I. (2002). The psychological bases of ideology and prejudice: Testing a dual process model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(1), 7593.Google Scholar
Federico, C. M., Weber, C. R., Ergun, D., & Hunt, C. (2013). Mapping the connections between politics and morality: The multiple sociopolitical orientations involved in moral intuition. Political Psychology, 34(4), 589610.Google Scholar
Franks, B., Bangerter, A., Bauer, M. W., Hall, M., & Noort, M. C. (2017). Beyond “monologicality”? Exploring conspiracist worldviews. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 861.Google Scholar
Friedberg, B. (2020, July 31). The dark virality of a Hollywood blood-harvesting conspiracy. Wired. www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-dark-virality-of-a-hollywood-blood-harvesting-conspiracy/Google Scholar
Golec de Zavala, A., & Federico, C. M. (2018). Collective narcissism and the growth of conspiracy thinking over the course of the 2016 United States presidential election: A longitudinal analysis. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(7), 10111018.Google Scholar
Golec de Zavala, A. G., Cichocka, A., Eidelson, R., & Jayawickreme, N. (2009). Collective narcissism and its social consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 10741096.Google Scholar
Green, R., & Douglas, K. M. (2018). Anxious attachment and belief in conspiracy theories. Personality and Individual Differences, 125, 3037.Google Scholar
Green, R., & Douglas, K. M. (2020, July). Making mountains out of molehills: Anxious attachment, belief in conspiracy theories, and the tendency to exaggerate life’s problems [Conference Session]. International Society of Political Psychology, Virtual Event.Google Scholar
Grzesiak-Feldman, M. (2007). Conspiracy thinking and state–trait anxiety in young Polish adults. Psychological Reports, 100(1), 199202.Google Scholar
Grzesiak-Feldman, M. (2013). The effect of high-anxiety situations on conspiracy thinking. Current Psychology, 32(1), 100118.Google Scholar
Hart, J., & Graether, M. (2018). Something’s going on here: Psychological predictors of belief in conspiracy theories. Journal of Individual Differences, 39(4), 229237.Google Scholar
Hennessy, M. (2020, July 29). Debunked: The conspiracy theories around the so-called Hollywood drug adrenochrome. TheJournal.ie. www.thejournal.ie/adrenochrome-mark-zuckerberg-5160653-Jul2020/Google Scholar
IAmBecauseWeAre. (2018). QAnon – The storm. Word Press. Retrieved June 1, 2021, from https://krypt3ia.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/q_s_posts_-_cbts_-_7–2-0.pdfGoogle Scholar
Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. K. (2017). Too special to be duped: Need for uniqueness motivates conspiracy beliefs. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47(6), 724734.Google Scholar
Jost, J. T., Ledgerwood, A., & Hardin, C. D. (2008). Shared reality, system justification, and the relational basis of ideological beliefs. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), 171186.Google Scholar
Jutzi, C. A., Willardt, R., Schmid, P. C., & Jonas, E. (2020). Between conspiracy beliefs, ingroup bias, and system justification: How people use defense strategies to cope with the threat of COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 578586.Google Scholar
Klein, C., Clutton, P., & Dunn, A. G. (2019). Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit’s conspiracy theory forum. PLoS ONE, 14(11), e0225098.Google Scholar
Klein, C., Clutton, P., & Polito, V. (2018). Topic modeling reveals distinct interests within an online conspiracy forum. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 189.Google Scholar
Kochi, S. (2021, February 2). How does the QAnon conspiracy theory spread online? Media Diversity Institute. www.media-diversity.org/how-does-qanon-spread-online/Google Scholar
Kofta, M., Soral, W., & Bilewicz, M. (2020). What breeds conspiracy antisemitism? The role of political uncontrollability and uncertainty in the belief in Jewish conspiracy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(5), 900918.Google Scholar
Lantian, A., Muller, D., Nurra, C., & Douglas, K. M. (2017). “I know things they don’t know!Social Psychology, 48(3), 160173.Google Scholar
Lantian, A., Muller, D., Nurra, C., Klein, O., Berjot, S., & Pantazi, M. (2018). Stigmatized beliefs: Conspiracy theories, anticipated negative evaluation of the self, and fear of social exclusion. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(7), 939954.Google Scholar
Leary, M. R. (2005). Sociometer theory and the pursuit of relational value: Getting to the root of self-esteem. European Review of Social Psychology, 16(1), 75111.Google Scholar
Leiser, D., Duani, N., & Wagner-Egger, P. (2017). The conspiratorial style in lay economic thinking. PLoS ONE, 12(3), e0171238.Google Scholar
Mamic, A. (2020, December 15). What it means to “do your own research.” Medium. https://medium.com/illumination-curated/what-it-means-to-do-your-own-research-c00cf5c25056Google Scholar
Martineau, P. (2017, December 19). The storm is the new Pizzagate – Only worse. Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/12/qanon-4chan-the-storm-conspiracy-explained.htmlGoogle Scholar
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2017). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change (2nd ed.). Guilford Publications.Google Scholar
Moskalenko, S. (2021, March 25). Many QAnon followers report having mental health diagnoses. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/many-qanon-followers-report-having-mental-health-diagnoses-157299Google Scholar
Nera, K., Wagner‐Egger, P., Bertin, P., Douglas, K., & Klein, O. (2021). A power‐challenging theory of society, or a conservative mindset? Upward and downward conspiracy theories as ideologically distinct beliefs. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(4–5), 740757.Google Scholar
Norris, P., & Epstein, S. (2011). An experiential thinking style: Its facets and relations with objective and subjective criterion measures. Journal of Personality, 79(5), 10431080.Google Scholar
North, A. (2020, September 18). How #SaveTheChildren is pulling American moms into QAnon. Vox. www.vox.com/21436671/save-our-children-hashtag-qanon-pizzagateGoogle Scholar
Peterson, A. H. (2020, October 29). The real housewives of QAnon: How conspiracy theorists co-opted #SavetheChildren to lure suburban moms into Q’s labyrinth. ELLE. www.elle.com/culture/a34485099/qanon-conspiracy-suburban-women/Google Scholar
Petrini, L., & Arendt-Nielsen, L. (2020). Understanding pain catastrophizing: Putting pieces together. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 603420.Google Scholar
Pettipiece, T. (2021, March 21). History repeats itself: From the New Testament to QAnon. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/history-repeats-itself-from-the-new-testament-to-qanon-156915Google Scholar
Poon, K.-T., Chen, Z., & Wong, W.-Y. (2020). Beliefs in conspiracy theories following ostracism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(8), 12341246.Google Scholar
Pytlik, N., Soll, D., & Mehl, S. (2020). Thinking preferences and conspiracy belief: Intuitive thinking and the jumping to conclusions-bias as a basis for the belief in conspiracy theories. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 568942.Google Scholar
Reddit. (2019). [r/QAnonCasualties]. Have a friend or loved one taken in by QAnon? Look here for support, resources and a place to vent [Subreddit]. Reddit. www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/Google Scholar
Richards, H. J., Benson, V., Donnelly, N., & Hadwin, J. A. (2014). Exploring the function of selective attention and hypervigilance for threat in anxiety. Clinical Psychology Review, 34(1), 113.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. (2018, September 11). A trail of “bread crumbs,” leading conspiracy theorists into the wilderness. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/magazine/a-trail-of-bread-crumbs-leading-conspiracy-theorists-into-the-wilderness.htmlGoogle Scholar
Sedikides, C., Gaertner, L., & O’Mara, E. M. (2011). Individual self, relational self, collective self: Hierarchical ordering of the tripartite self. Psychological Studies, 56(1), 98107.Google Scholar
Sommer, W. (2021). Trust the plan: The rise of QAnon and the conspiracy that reshaped America. HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Spocchia, G. (2021, January 9). What role did QAnon play in the capitol riot? The Independent. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/qanon-capitol-congress-riot-trump-b1784460.htmlGoogle Scholar
Sternisko, A., Cichocka, A., Cislak, A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2023). National narcissism predicts the belief in and the dissemination of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 56 countries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(1), 4865.Google Scholar
Sternisko, A., Cichocka, A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2020). The dark side of social movements: Social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories. Current Opinion in Psychology, 35, 16.Google Scholar
Sutton, R. M., & Douglas, K. M. (2022). Rabbit hole syndrome: Inadvertent, accelerating, and entrenched commitment to conspiracy beliefs. Current Opinion in Psychology, 48, 101462.Google Scholar
Swami, V., Voracek, M., Stieger, S., Tran, U. S., & Furnham, A. (2014). Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories. Cognition, 133(3), 572585.Google Scholar
Tollefson, J. (2021). Tracking QAnon: How Trump turned conspiracy-theory research upside down. Nature, 590(7845), 192193.Google Scholar
van Prooijen, J. (2017). Why education predicts decreased belief in conspiracy theories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 31(1), 5058.Google Scholar
van Prooijen, J. (2020). An existential threat model of conspiracy theories. European Psychologist, 25(1), 1625.Google Scholar
van Prooijen, J., Douglas, K. M., & De Inocencio, C. (2018). Connecting the dots: Illusory pattern perception predicts belief in conspiracies and the supernatural. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(3), 320335.Google Scholar
Vesoulis, A. (2018, August 3). Here’s why experts worry about the popularity of QAnon’s conspiracy theory. Time. https://time.com/5356851/what-is-qanonGoogle Scholar
Wagner-Egger, P., Delouvée, S., Gauvrit, N., & Dieguez, S. (2018). Creationism and conspiracism share a common teleological bias. Current Biology, 28(16), R867R868.Google Scholar
Watt, C. S. (2020, September 23). The QAnon orphans: People who have lost loved ones to conspiracy theories. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/23/qanon-conspiracy-theories-loved-onesGoogle Scholar
Wood, M. J., Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M. (2012). Dead and alive. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(6), 767773.Google Scholar
Zonis, M., & Joseph, C. M. (1994). Conspiracy thinking in the Middle East. Political Psychology, 15(3), 443459.Google Scholar

References

Abrams, Z. (2020, November 18). What do we know about conspiracy theories? American Psychological Association. www.apa.org/news/apa/2020/11/conspiracy-theoriesGoogle Scholar
Aïn, S. E., Carré, A., Fantini-Hauwel, C., Baudouin, J. Y., & Besche-Richard, C. (2013). What is the emotional core of the multidimensional Machiavellian personality trait? Frontiers in Psychology, 4(1), 454.Google Scholar
Amarasingam, A., & Argentino, M.-A. (2020). The QAnon conspiracy theory: A security threat in the making? Combating Terrorism Center, 13(7). https://ctc.usma.edu/the-qanon-conspiracy-theory-a-security-threat-in-the-making/Google Scholar
Anti-Defamation League. (n.d.a). Blood Libel: A False, Incendiary Claim Against Jews. www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/blood-libelGoogle Scholar
Anti-Defamation League. (n.d.b). The dangers of disinformation. www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/the-dangers-of-disinformationGoogle Scholar
Anti-Defamation League. (n.d.c). QAnon. www.adl.org/qanonGoogle Scholar
Anti-Defamation League. (2021, April 19). “The Great Replacement”: An explainer. www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/the-great-replacement-an-explainerGoogle Scholar
Bloom, M. (2020, May 30). Far-right infiltrators and agitators in George Floyd protests: Indicators of white supremacists. Just Security. www.justsecurity.org/70497/far-right-infiltrators-and-agitators-in-george-floyd-protests-indicators-of-white-supremacists/Google Scholar
Bloom, M. (2021, July 5). We knew QAnon is anti-Semitic. Now, we know it’s racist, too. Bulletin for Atomic Scientists. www.google.com/amp/s/thebulletin.org/2021/07/we-knew-qanon-is-anti-semitic-now-we-know-its-racist-too/amp/Google Scholar
Bowes, S. M., Costello, T. H., Ma, W., & Lilenfield, S. O. (2020). Looking under the tinfoil hat: Clarifying the personological and psychopathological correlates of conspiracy theories. Journal of Personality, 89(3), 422436.Google Scholar
Bracewell, L. (2021). Gender, populism, and the QAnon conspiracy movement. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, 615727.Google Scholar
Bratich, J. (2020, October 23). Rutgers expert explains QAnon. Rutgers Today: Research & Innovation. www.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-expert-explains-qanonGoogle Scholar
Brockell, G. (2021, March 4). Why March 4 matters to QAnon extremists, leading to fears of another Capitol attack. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/03/03/march-4-qanon-trump-inauguration/Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, July 1). Identifying the source of the outbreak. www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/about-epidemiology/identifying-source-outbreak.htmlGoogle Scholar
Chandler, K. J. (2020). Where we go 1 we go all: A public discourse analysis of QAnon. McNair Scholars Research, 13(1). https://commons.emich.edu/mcnair/vol13/iss1/4Google Scholar
Cichocka, A., Marchlewska, M., & Golec de Zavala, A. (2015). Does self-love or self-hate predict conspiracy theories? Narcissism, self-esteem, and endorsement of conspiracy theory. Social Psychology and Personality Science, 7(2), 157166.Google Scholar
Cox, D. A. (2021, March 4). Social isolation and community disconnection are not spurring conspiracy theories. Survey Center on American Life. www.americansurveycenter.org/research/social-isolation-and-community-disconnection-are-not-spurring-conspiracy-theories/Google Scholar
Crews, G. (2021). Folie à Deux in the 21st century: QAnon and the American dream delusion. In Bentch, C. S. & Crews, G. A. (Eds.), Mitigating mass violence and managing threats in contemporary society (pp. 7584). IGI Global.Google Scholar
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. (2020, November 12). Joint statement from Elections Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council & the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees. www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-electionGoogle Scholar
Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., Parker, A., Denovan, D., & Parton, M. (2015). Conspiracy theory and cognitive style: A worldview. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 206.Google Scholar
Dickson, E. J. (2020, September 23). Former QAnon followers explain what drew them in – And got them out. Rolling Stone. www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ex-qanon-followers-cult-conspiracy-theory-pizzagate-1064076/amp/Google Scholar
Domonoske, C. (2020, August 12). QAnon supporter who made bigoted videos win GA. primary, likely heading to Congress. NPR. www.npr.org/2020/08/12/901628541/qanon-supporter-who-made-bigoted-videos-wins-ga-primary-likely-heading-to-congreGoogle Scholar
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The psychology of conspiracy theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538542.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S., & Deravi, F. (2019). Understanding conspiracy theories. Political Psychology, 40(1), 335.Google Scholar
Enders, A. M., Uscinski, J. E., Klofstad, C. A., Wuchty, S., Seelig, M. I., Funchion, J. R., Murthi, M. N., Premaratne, K., & Stoler, J. (2022). Who supports QAnon? A case study in political extremism. Journal of Politics, 84(3), https://doi.org/10.1086/717850Google Scholar
Fischele, M. (2000). Mass response to the Lewinski Scandal: Motivated reasoning or Bayesian updating? International Society of Political Psychology, 21(1) 135156.Google Scholar
Friedman, R. A. (2021). Why humans are vulnerable to conspiracy theories. Psychiatric Services, 72(1), 34.Google Scholar
Frost, P., Casey, B., Griffin, K., Raymundo, L., Farrell, C., & Carrigan, R. (2015). The influence of confirmation bias on memory and source monitoring. Journal of General Psychology, 142(4), 238252.Google Scholar
Garrett, R., & Bond, R. M. (2021). Conservatives’ susceptibility to political misperceptions. Science Advances, 7(23), eabf1234.Google Scholar
Garry, A., Walther, S., Mohamed, R., & Mohammed, A. (2021). QAnon conspiracy theory: Examining its evolution and mechanisms of radicalization. Journal for Deradicalization, 26, 152216.Google Scholar
Goldenberg, A., Riggleman, D., Baumgartner, J., March, L., Reid-Ross, A., & Finkelstein, J. (2020). The QAnon conspiracy: Destroying families, dividing communities, undermining democracy. Network Contagion Research Institute. https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/NCRI-%E2%80%93-The-QAnon-Conspiracy-FINAL.pdfGoogle Scholar
Greene, C. M., & Murphy, G. (2021). Quantifying the effects of fake news on behavior: Evidence from a study of COVID-19 misinformation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 27(4), 773784.Google Scholar
Halpern, D., Valenzuela, S., Katz, J., & Miranda, J. P. (2019). From belief in conspiracy theories to trust in others: Which factors influence exposure, believing, and sharing of fake news. In Meiselwitz, G. (Ed.), Social computing and social media. Design, human behavior and analytics (pp. 217232). HCII 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 11578. Springer.Google Scholar
Hughes, S., & Machan, L. (2021). It’s a conspiracy: COVID-19 conspiracies link to psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and collective narcissism. Personality and Individual Differences, 171, 110559.Google Scholar
Human Trafficking Search. (2014). Human trafficking: Not all black or white. https://humantraffickingsearch.org/human-trafficking-not-all-black-or-white/Google Scholar
Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. K. (2018). How paranoid are conspiracy believers? Toward a more fine-grained understanding of the connect and disconnect between paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48, 909926.Google Scholar
Ingram, M. (2020, August 13). The QAnon cult is growing and the media is helping. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/the_media_today/the-qanon-conspiracy-cult-is-growing-and-the-media-is-helping.phpGoogle Scholar
Janis, I. L. (2007). Groupthink. In Vecchio, R. P. (Ed.), Leadership: Understanding the dynamics of power and influence in organizations (2nd ed., pp. 157169). University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Jhangiani, R., & Tarry, H. (2014). Principles of social psychology. BC Campus.Google Scholar
Johnstone, K. M., Chen, J., & Balzan, R. P. (2017). An investigation into the jumping-to-conclusions bias in social anxiety. Consciousness and Cognition, 48, 5565.Google Scholar
Kiran, C., & Chaudhury, S. (2009). Understanding delusions. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 18(1), 318.Google Scholar
Klar, R. (2021, March 15). Facebook study finds overlap between vaccine hesitancy and QAnon. The Hill. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/543273-facebook-study-finds-overlap-between-vaccine-hesitancy-and-qanonGoogle Scholar
Klepper, D. (2021, January 29). Checked by reality, some QAnon supporters seek a way out. Associated Press: PBS News. www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/checked-by-reality-some-qanon-supporters-seek-a-way-outGoogle Scholar
Krch, D. (2011). Cognitive processing. In Kreutzer, J. S., DeLuca, J., & Caplan, B. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of clinical neuropsychology (p. 627). Springer.Google Scholar
Lazer, D., Baum, M., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A., Greenhill, K., Menczer, F., Metzger, M. J., Nyhan, B., Pennycook, G., Rothschild, D., Schudson, M., Sloman, S. A., Sunstein, C. R., Thorson, E. A., Watts, D. J., & Zittrain, J. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 359(6380), 24.Google Scholar
Lee, M. (2020, October 5). Poll: Many Americans blame virus crises on U.S. government. The Associated Press. https://apnorc.org/poll-many-americans-blame-virus-crisis-on-us-government/Google Scholar
Lee, Y. (2019). Groupthink as a system of the decision making process. Applied Psychology Opus. https://wp.nyu.edu/steinhardt-appsych_opus/groupthink/Google Scholar
Mak, A. (2021, January 13). Where MAGA insurrectionists and QAnon followers will post now. Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2021/01/twitter-facebook-parler-gab-telegram-maga-qanon.htmlGoogle Scholar
Marwick, A., & Partin, W. C. (2020). The construction of alternative facts: “QAnon” researchers as scientistic selves. Paper presented at AoIR 2020: The 21st Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. Virtual event: AoIR. http://spir.aior.orgGoogle Scholar
McKee, M., & Stuckler, D. (2010). How cognitive biases affect our interpretation of political messages. British Medical Journal, 340(7753), 936937.Google Scholar
Meller, T. (2002). Agency panic and the culture of conspiracy. In Knight, P. (Ed.), Conspiracy nation: The politics of paranoia in post-war America (pp. 5781). NYU Press.Google Scholar
Meterko, V. (2021, August 19). What is cognitive bias and how does it contribute to wrongful conviction. Innocence Project. https://innocenceproject.org/what-is-cognitive-bias-how-it-contributes-to-wrongful-conviction/Google Scholar
Metz, S. E., Weisberg, D. S., & Weisberg, M. (2020). A case of sustained internal contradiction: Unresolved ambivalence between evolution and creationism. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 20(3–4), 338354.Google Scholar
Miller, D. T. (2021). Characterizing QAnon: Analysis of YouTube comments presents new conclusions about a popular conservative conspiracy. First Monday, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v26i2.10168Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2018, November 22). Lucky 17, Q, and the “tippy top” White House: How conspiracy theories are being turbo-charged in Trump’s America. ITV News. www.itv.com/news/2018-11-22/lucky-17-q-and-the-tippy-top-president-how-conspiracy-theories-are-being-turbo-charged-into-donald-trumps-americaGoogle Scholar
Moskalenko, S., & McCauley, C. (2021). QAnon: Radical opinion versus radical action. Perspectives on Terrorism, 15(2), 142146.Google Scholar
Mosley, T., & Raphelson, S. (2021, January 29). Who is Marjorie Taylor Green? What the Congresswoman’s rise means for the future of the GOP. Wbur. www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/01/29/marjorie-taylor-greene-gopGoogle Scholar
Murata, A., Nakamura, T., & Karwoski, W. (2015). Influences of cognitive biases in distorted decision making and leading to critical unfavorable incidents. Safety, 1, 4458.Google Scholar
Nelson, T., Kagan, N., Critchlow, C., Hillard, A., & Hsu, A. (2020). The danger of misinformation in the COVID-19 crisis. Missouri Medicine, 117(6), 510512.Google Scholar
Novella, S. (2018). Teleology and conspiracy thinking. Neurologica. https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/teleology-and-conspiracy-thinking/Google Scholar
Nyhan, B. (2010). Why the “death panel” myth wouldn’t die: Misinformation in the health care Reform Debate. The Forum 8. https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Why-Death-Panel-Myth-Wont-Die.pdfGoogle Scholar
Oliver, J. E., & Wood, T. J. (2014). Conspiracy theories and the paranoid style(s) of mass opinion. American Journal of Political Science, 58(4), 952966.Google Scholar
Papasavva, A., Blackburn, J., Stringhini, G., Zannettou, S., & De Cristofaro, E. (2020). “Is it a Qoincidence?”: A first step towards understanding and characterizing the QAnon movement on Voat.co. Computers and Society. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2009.04885Google Scholar
Pasek, J., Stark, T. H., Krosnick, J. A., & Tompson, T. (2015). What motivates a conspiracy theory? Birther beliefs, partisanship, liberal–conservative ideology, and anti-Black attitudes. Electoral Studies, 40, 482489.Google Scholar
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2020). Who falls for fake news? The roles of bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, familiarity, and analytic thinking. Journal of Personality, 88(2), 185200.Google Scholar
Pierre, J. (2020). Mistrust and misinformation: A two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 8(2), 617641.Google Scholar
Pytlik, N., Soll, D., & Mehl, S. (2020). Thinking preferences and conspiracy belief: Intuitive thinking and the jumping to conclusions-bias as a basis for the belief in conspiracy theories. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 568942.Google Scholar
Reimann, N. (2021, August 13). QAnon marked Friday as Trump “reinstatement” day – here are other flop predictions of Trump’s return. Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2021/08/13/qanon-marked-friday-as-trump-reinstatement-day-here-are-other-flop-predictions-of-trumps-return/?sh=7e0e14982a77Google Scholar
Richey, S. (2017). A birther and a truther: The influence of the authoritarian personality on conspiracy beliefs. Politics & Policy, 45, 465485.Google Scholar
Romer, D., & Jamieson, K. H. (2020). Conspiracy theories as a barrier to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. Social Science & Medicine, 263, 113356.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2003, August 30). Creationism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/creationism/Google Scholar
Schor, E. (2021, January 13). Anti-Semitism seen in Capitol insurrection raises alarms. Associated Press: US News. www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-01-13/anti-semitism-seen-in-capitol-insurrection-raises-alarmsGoogle Scholar
Sen, A., & Zadrozny, B. (2020, August 10). QAnon groups have millions of members on Facebook, documents show. NBC News. www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanon-groups-have-millions-members-facebook-documents-show-n1236317Google Scholar
Sommer, W. (2020, August 15). QAnon promotes pedo-ring conspiracy theories. Now they’re stealing kids. The Daily Beast. www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-promotes-pedo-ring-conspiracy-theories-now-theyre-stealing-kidsGoogle Scholar
Stanton, Z. (2020). You’re living in the golden age of conspiracy theories. Politico. www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/17/conspiracy-theories-pandemic-trump-2020-election-coronavirus-326530Google Scholar
Sternisko, A., Cichocka, A., Cislak, A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2023). National narcissism and the belief and dissemination of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 56 countries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(1), 4865.Google Scholar
Tolan, C., Kuznia, R., & Ortega, B. (2021, January 7). Insurrection fueled by conspiracy groups, extremists, and fringe movements. CNN. www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/insurrection-capitol-extremist-groups-invs/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Uscinski, J. E., & Parent, J. M. (2014). The ages of conspiracies. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van der Linden, S., Panagopoulos, C., Azevedo, F., & Jost, J. (2020). The paranoid style in American politics revisited: An ideological asymmetry in conspiratorial thinking. Political Psychology, 42(1), 2351.Google Scholar
van Prooijen, J. W., & Douglas, K. M. (2017). Conspiracy theories as a part of history: The role of societal crisis situations. Memory Studies, 10(3), 323333.Google Scholar
van Prooijen, J. W., Krouwel, A. P. M., & Pollet, T. (2015). Political extremism predicts belief in conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(5), 570578.Google Scholar
Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359, 11461151.Google Scholar
Wade, P. (2023, January 8). MTG, a Member of Congress, blames “the Internet” for her past QAnon beliefs. Rolling Stone. www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/marjorie-taylor-greene-blames-internet-qanon-beliefs-1234657579/Google Scholar
Wagner-Egger, P., Delouvée, S., Gauvrit, N., & Dieguez, S. (2018). Creationism and conspiracism share a common teleological basis. Current Biology, 28, R847R870.Google Scholar
Walker, L. E. A. (2002). Politics, psychology, and the Battered Women’s Movement. Journal of Trauma Practice, 1(1), 81102.Google Scholar
West, D. M. (2021, January 11). The role of misinformation in Trump’s insurrection. Brookings. www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2021/01/11/the-role-of-misinformation-in-trumps-insurrection/Google Scholar
Willingham, A. J. (2020, October 3). How the pandemic and politics gave us a golden age of conspiracy theories. CNN. www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/us/conspiracy-theories-why-origins-pandemic-politics-trnd/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Winter, J. (2019, August 1). Exclusive: FBI document warns conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorism threat. Yahoo News. www.yahoo.com/now/fbi-documents-conspiracy-theories-terrorism-160000507.htmlGoogle Scholar
Wood, M. J., & Douglas, K. M. (2015). Online communication as a window to conspiracist worldviews. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 836.Google Scholar
Yakeley, J. (2018). Current understanding of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder. BJPsych Advances, 24(5), 305315.Google Scholar
Zitser, J., & Ankle, S. (2021, June 27). A Trump loving insurrectionist and a convicted stalker are among 36 QAnon supporters running for Congress in 2022. Insider. www.businessinsider.com/the-36-qanon-supporters-running-congress-in-the-2022-midterms-2021-6Google Scholar
Zuckerman, E., & McQuade, M. (2019). QAnon and the emergence of the unreal. Journal of Design and Science. https://doi.org/10.21428/7808da6b.6b8a82b9Google Scholar

References

Ahmed, R., Ahmed, A., & Barkat, W. (2021). Behavioral limitations of individuals for coping with COVID-19: A terror management perspective. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 31(1–4), 97118.Google Scholar
Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (1996). Mechanisms of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(2), 364374.Google Scholar
Beckett, L. (2020, October 16). QAnon: A timeline of violence linked to the conspiracy theory. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/15/qanon-violence-crimes-timelineGoogle Scholar
Bergengruen, V. (2022, January 26). How the anti-vax movement is taking over the right. Time. https://time.com/6141699/anti-vaccine-mandate-movement-rally/Google Scholar
Bleakley, P. (2021). Panic, pizza and mainstreaming the alt-right: A social media analysis of Pizzagate and the rise of the QAnon conspiracy. Current Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921211034896Google Scholar
Calvillo, D. P., Ross, B. J., Garcia, R. J., Smelter, T. J., & Rutchick, A. M. (2020). Political ideology predicts perceptions of the threat of COVID-19 (and susceptibility to fake news about it). Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(8), 11191128.Google Scholar
Castano, E. (2008). On the perils of glorifying the in‐group: Intergroup violence, in‐group glorification, and moral disengagement. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), 154170.Google Scholar
Chan, E. Y. (2021). Moral foundations underlying behavioral compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Personality and Individual Differences, 171, 110463.Google Scholar
Cohen, F., Solomon, S., & Kaplin, D. (2017). You’re hired! Mortality salience increases Americans’ support for Donald Trump. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 17(1), 339357.Google Scholar
Cullen, F. T., Graham, A., Jonson, C. L., Pickett, J. T., Sloan, M. M., & Haner, M. (2022). The denier in chief: Faith in Trump and techniques of neutralization in a pandemic. Deviant Behavior, 43, 829851.Google Scholar
Day, M. V., Fiske, S. T., Downing, E. L., & Trail, T. E. (2014). Shifting liberal and conservative attitudes using moral foundations theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(12), 15591573.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The psychology of conspiracy theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538542.Google Scholar
Fincher, C. L., & Thornhill, R. (2012). Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35(2), 6179.Google Scholar
Garry, A., Walther, S., Rukaya, R., & Mohammed, A. (2021). QAnon conspiracy theory: Examining its evolution and mechanisms of radicalization. Journal for Deradicalization, 26(3), 152216.Google Scholar
Graham, A., Cullen, F. T., Pickett, J. T., Jonson, C. L., Haner, M., & Sloan, M. M. (2020). Faith in Trump, moral foundations, and social distancing defiance during the coronavirus pandemic. Socius, 6, 123.Google Scholar
Graham, J., Haidt, J., Koleva, S., Motyl, M., Iyer, R., Wojcik, S. P., & Ditto, P. H. (2013). Moral foundations theory: The pragmatic validity of moral pluralism. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 55130.Google Scholar
Graham, J., Haidt, J., Motyl, M., Meindl, P., Iskiwitch, C., & Mooijman, M. (2018). Moral foundations theory: On the advantages of moral pluralism over moral monism. In Gray, K. & Graham, J. (Eds.), Atlas of moral psychology (pp. 211222). The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Graham, J., Haidt, J., & Nosek, B. A. (2009). Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of moral foundations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5), 10291046.Google Scholar
Graham, J., Nosek, B. A., Haidt, J., Iyer, R., Koleva, S., & Ditto, P. H. (2011). Mapping the moral domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 366385.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J., & Kosloff, S. (2008). Terror management theory: Implications for understanding prejudice, stereotyping, intergroup conflict, and political attitudes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(5), 18811894.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1986). The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In Baumeister, R. F. (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 189212). Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2007). When morality opposes justice: Conservatives have moral intuitions that liberals may not recognize. Social Justice Research, 20(1), 98116.Google Scholar
Haidt, J., & Joseph, C. (2004). Intuitive ethics: How innately prepared intuitions generate culturally variable virtues. Daedalus, 133(4), 5566.Google Scholar
Hatemi, P. K., Crabtree, C., & Smith, K. B. (2019). Ideology justifies morality: Political beliefs predict moral foundations. American Journal of Political Science, 63(4), 788806.Google Scholar
Horner, D. E., Sielaff, A., Pyszczyznski, T., & Greenberg, J. (2023). Terror management and the COVID-19 pandemic. In Miller, M. K. (Ed.), The social science of the COVID-19 pandemic: A call to action for researchers. Oxford University Press. Manuscript in progress.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. (2020, October 28). Covid-19 fueling Anti-Asian racism and xenophobia worldwide. www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/covid-19-fueling-anti-asian-racism-and-xenophobia-worldwideGoogle Scholar
Jolley, D., Douglas, K. M., Leite, A. C., & Schrader, T. (2019). Belief in conspiracy theories and intentions to engage in everyday crime. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(3), 534549.Google Scholar
Karwowski, M., Kowal, M., Groyecka-Bernard, A., Białek, M., Lebuda, I., Sorokowska, A., & Sorokowski, P. (2020). When in danger, turn right: Does COVID-19 threat promote social conservatism and right-wing presidential candidates? Human Ethology, 35, 3748.Google Scholar
Keith, M. (2022, January 8). QAnon influencer who spread conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19 dies after contracting the virus. Business Insider. www.businessinsider.com/anti-vaxx-qanon-influencer-dies-after-contracting-covid-2022-1Google Scholar
Legare, R., & Rosen, J. (2022, January 27). QAnon follower from South Carolina who admitted he assaulted officers on January 6 sentenced to 44 months in prison. CBS News. www.cbsnews.com/news/january-6-nicolas-languerand-qanon-assault-sentence-44-months/Google Scholar
Leidner, B., Castano, E., Zaiser, E., & Giner-Sorolla, R. (2010). Ingroup glorification, moral disengagement, and justice in the context of collective violence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(8), 11151129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maftei, A., & Holman, A. C. (2022). Beliefs in conspiracy theories, intolerance of uncertainty, and moral disengagement during the coronavirus crisis. Ethics & Behavior, 32, 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malka, A., Osborne, D., Soto, C. J., Greaves, L. M., Sibley, C. G., & Lelkes, Y. (2016). Binding moral foundations and the narrowing of ideological conflict to the traditional morality domain. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42(9), 12431257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moll, J., Zahn, R., de Oliveira-Souza, R., Krueger, F., & Grafman, J. (2005). The neural basis of human moral cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(10), 799809.Google Scholar
Moynihan, D., & Porumbescu, G. (2020, September 16). Analysis | Trump’s “Chinese virus” slur makes some people blame Chinese Americans. But others blame Trump. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/16/trumps-chinese-virus-slur-makes-some-people-blame-chinese-americans-others-blame-trump/Google Scholar
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (n.d.). Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., former NIAID director. www.niaid.nih.gov/about/directorGoogle Scholar
O’Shea, B. A., Vitriol, J. A., Federico, C. M., Appleby, J., & Williams, A. L. (2022). Exposure and aversion to human transmissible diseases predict conservative ideological and partisan preferences. Political Psychology, 43(1), 6588.Google Scholar
Pazhoohi, F., & Kingstone, A. (2021). Associations of political orientation, xenophobia, right-wing authoritarianism, and concern of COVID-19: Cognitive responses to an actual pathogen threat. Personality and Individual Differences, 182, 111081.Google Scholar
Porumbescu, G., Moynihan, D., Anastasopoulos, J., & Olsen, A. L. (2022). When blame avoidance backfires: Responses to performance framing and outgroup scapegoating during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Governance. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12701Google Scholar
Pyszczynski, T. (2004). What are we so afraid of? A terror management theory perspective on the politics of fear. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 71(4), 827848.Google Scholar
Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Can a pandemic make people more socially conservative? Political ideology, gender roles, and the case of COVID‐19. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 51(4), 425433.Google Scholar
Rottweiler, B., & Gill, P. (2022). Conspiracy beliefs and violent extremist intentions: The contingent effects of self-efficacy, self-control and law-related morality. Terrorism and Political Violence, 34, 14851504.Google Scholar
Rubin, O., Bruggeman, L., & Steakin, W. (2021). QAnon emerges as recurring theme of criminal cases tied to US capitol siege. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/qanon-emerges-recurring-theme-criminal-cases-tied-us/story?id=75347445Google Scholar
Schaller, M. (2011). The behavioral immune system and the psychology of human sociality. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 366, 34183426.Google Scholar
Shao, W., & Hao, F. (2020). Confidence in political leaders can slant risk perceptions of COVID–19 in a highly polarized environment. Social Science & Medicine, 261, 16.Google Scholar
Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2015). The worm at the core: On the role of death in life. Random House.Google Scholar
Spring, M., & Wendling, M. (2020, September 2). How Covid-19 myths are merging with the QAnon conspiracy theory. BBC News. www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-53997203Google Scholar
Thornhill, R., & Fincher, C. L. (2014). The parasite-stress theory of sociality, the behavioral immune system, and human social and cognitive uniqueness. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 8(4), 257264.Google Scholar
Timberg, C., & Dwoskin, E. (2021, March 11). With Trump gone, QAnon groups focus fury on attacking coronavirus vaccines. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/11/with-trump-gone-qanon-groups-focus-fury-attacking-covid-vaccines/Google Scholar
Tybur, J. M., Lieberman, D., Kurzban, R., & DeScioli, P. (2013). Disgust: Evolved function and structure. Psychological Review, 120(1), 6584.Google Scholar
Weise, D. R., Pyszczynski, T., Cox, C. R., Arndt, J., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Kosloff, S. (2008). Interpersonal politics: The role of terror management and attachment processes in shaping political preferences. Psychological Science, 19(5), 448455.Google Scholar
Wendling, M. S. (2020, September 2). How COVID-19 myths are merging with the QAnon conspiracy theory. BBC News. www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-53997203Google Scholar

References

AP News. (2020, December 22). Man gets prison for 2018 armed Hoover Dam bridge barricade. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/kingman-las-vegas-arizona-colorado-river-nevada-f1ab90c182bbd94a1511a3cdb8f6786aGoogle Scholar
Aronson, E. (1992). The return of the repressed: Dissonance theory makes a comeback. Psychological Inquiry, 3, 303311.Google Scholar
Arpan, L. M., & Nabi, R. L. (2011). Exploring anger in the hostile media process: Effects on news preferences and source evaluation. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 88, 522.Google Scholar
Austin, L., Overton, H., McKeever, B. W., & Bortree, D. (2020). Examining the rage donation trend: Applying the anger activism model to explore communication and donation behaviors. Public Relations Review, 46, 18.Google Scholar
Banas, J. A., & Miller, G. (2013). Inducing resistance to conspiracy theory propaganda: Testing inoculation and meta-inoculation strategies. Human Communication Research, 40, 124.Google Scholar
Banas, J. A., & Rains, S. A. (2010). A meta-analysis of research on inoculation theory. Communication Monographs, 77, 281311.Google Scholar
Banas, J. A., Bessarabova, E., Talbert, N., & Penkauskas, M. (2022). Inoculating against anti-vax conspiracies. Paper presented at the National Communication Association, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Beckett, L. (2020, October 16) QAnon: A timeline of violence linked to the conspiracy theory. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/15/qanon-violence-crimes-timelineGoogle Scholar
Berger, J. (2011). Arousal increases social transmission of information. Psychological Science, 22, 891893.Google Scholar
Berger, J., & Milkman, K. L. (2012). What makes online content viral? Journal of Marketing Research, 49, 192205.Google Scholar
Bessarabova, E., Banas, J. A., & Bernard, D. R. (2020). Emotional appeals in message design. In O’Hair, D. & O’Hair, M. J. (Eds.), Handbook of applied communication research (pp. 103122). Sage.Google Scholar
Bessarabova, E., Piercy, C., King, S., Vincent, C., Dunbar, N. E., Burgoon, J. K., Miller, C. H., Jensen, M., Elkins, A., Wilson, D., Wilson, S. N., & Lee, Y.-H. (2016). Mitigating bias blind spot via a serious video game. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 452466.Google Scholar
Bessarabova, E., Turner, M. M., Fink, E. L., & Blustein, N. B. (2015). Extending the theory of reactance to guilt appeals: “You ain’t guiltin’ me into nothin’.” Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 223, 215224.Google Scholar
Brean, H., & Hawkins, D. (2018, July 13). Suspect in Hoover Dam standoff writes Trump, cites conspiracy in letters. Las Vegas Review Journal. www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/suspect-in-hoover-dam-standoff-writes-trump-cites-conspiracy-in-letters/Google Scholar
Carver, C. S., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2009). Anger is an approach-related affect: Evidence and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 135(2), 183204.Google Scholar
Cotter, E. M. (2008). Influence of emotional content and perceived relevance on spread of urban legends: A pilot study. Psychological Reports, 102, 623629.Google Scholar
Cox, D. A. (2021, February 11). After the ballots are counted: Conspiracies, political violence, and American exceptionalism. The American Survey Center. www.americansurveycenter.org/research/after-the-ballots-are-counted-conspiracies-political-violence-and-american-exceptionalism/Google Scholar
Daly, K. (2020, August 18). How QAnon works like a video game to hook people? Axios. www.axios.com/qanon-video-game-cbbacb1e-969c-4f07-93cd-69e41bc6feeb.htmlGoogle Scholar
DeSteno, D., Petty, R. E., Rucker, D. D., Wegener, D. T., & Braverman, J. (2004). Discrete emotions and persuasion: The role of emotion-induced expectancies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 4356.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M. (2018). Why conspiracy theories matter: A social psychological analysis. European Review of Social Psychology, 29(1), 256298.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The psychology of conspiracy theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538542.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S., & Deravi, F. (2019). Understanding conspiracy theories. Political Psychology, 40, 335.Google Scholar
Frijda, N. H. (1987). Emotion, cognitive structure, and action tendency. Cognition and Emotion, 1, 115143.Google Scholar
Grzesiak-Feldman, M. (2007). Conspiracy thinking and state–trait anxiety in young Polish adults. Psychological Reports, 100, 199202.Google Scholar
Grzesiak-Feldman, M. (2013). The effect of high-anxiety situations on conspiracy thinking. Current Psychology, 32, 100118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Han, Y.-H., & Arpan, L. (2017). The effects of news bias-induced anger, anxiety, and issue novelty on subsequent news preferences. Advances in Journalism and Communication, 5, 256277.Google Scholar
Heath, C., Bell, C., & Sternberg, E. (2001). Emotional selection in memes: The case of urban legends. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 10281041.Google Scholar
Hoback, C. (2021). Q: Into the storm [Documentary]. HBO.Google Scholar
Huddy, L., Feldman, S., & Cassese, E. (2007). On the distinct political effects of anxiety and anger. In Neuman, W. R., Marcus, G. E., Criegler, A., & MacKuen, M. (Eds.), The affect effect: Dynamics of emotion in political thinking and behavior (pp. 202230). University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hwang, H., Pan, Z., & Sun, Y. (2008). Influence of hostile media perception on willingness to engage in discursive activities: An examination of mediating role of media indignation. Media Psychology, 11, 7697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ilakkuvan, V., Turner, M. M., Cantrell, J., Hair, E., & Vallone, D. (2017). The relationship between advertising-induced anger and self-efficacy on persuasive outcomes. Family & Community Health, 40(1), 7280.Google Scholar
Iyengar, S., Lelkes, Y., Levendusky, M., Malhotra, N., & Westwood, S. J. (2019). The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States. Annual Review of Political Science, 22, 129146.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lee, Y., Dunbar, N., Miller, C. H., Bessarabova, E., Jensen, M., Wilson, S. N., Elizondo, J., Burgoon, J., & Valacich, J. (2021). Mitigating bias and improving professional decision making through digital game play. In Raessens, J., Schouten, B., Jansz, J., Conde-Pumpido, T. d. l. H., Kors, M., & Jacobs, R. (Eds.), Persuasive gaming in context (pp. 239258). Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2000). Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion specific influences on judgment and choice. Cognition and Emotion, 14(4), 473493.Google Scholar
Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001). Fear, anger, and risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 146159.Google Scholar
Lerner, J. S., Goldberg, J. H., & Tetlock, P. E. (1998). Sober second thought: The effects of accountability, anger and authoritarianism on attributions of responsibility. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 563574.Google Scholar
Levy, R., & Kesling, B. (2021, January 27). DHS issues its first national terrorism bulletin for domestic extremists. Wall Street Journal. www.wsj.com/articles/dhs-issues-national-terrorism-alert-for-domestic-extremists-11611770893Google Scholar
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., Seifert, C. M., Schwarz, N., & Cook, J. (2012). Misinformation and its correction: Continued influence and successful debiasing. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(3), 106131.Google Scholar
MacKuen, M., Wolak, J., Keele, L., & Marcus, G. E. (2010). Civic engagements: Resolute partisanship or reflective deliberation. American Journal of Political Science, 54, 440458.Google Scholar
Matthes, J. (2011). Exposure to counterattitudinal news coverage and the timing of voting decisions. Communication Research, 39, 147169.Google Scholar
McGuire, W. J. (1961). The effectiveness of supportive and refutational defenses in immunizing and restoring beliefs against persuasion. Sociometry, 24, 184197.Google Scholar
Meirick, P. C., & Bessarabova, E. (2016). Epistemic factors in selective exposure and political misperceptions on the right and left. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 16(1), 3668.Google Scholar
Morgan, C. A., III, Southwick, S., Steffian, G., Hazlett, G. A., & Loftus, E. F. (2013). Misinformation can influence memory for recently experienced, highly stressful events. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 36(1), 1117.Google Scholar
Mutz, D. C. (2006). Hearing the other side: Deliberative versus participatory democracy. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Na, K., Garrett, R. K., & Slater, M. D. (2018). Rumor acceptance during public health crises: Testing the emotional congruence hypothesis, Journal of Health Communication, 23(8), 791799.Google Scholar
Nabi, R. L. (2003). Exploring the framing effects of emotion: Do discrete emotions differentially influence information accessibility, information seeking, and policy preference? Communication Research, 30, 224247.Google Scholar
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2019). Lazy, not biased: Susceptibility to partisan fake news is better explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning. Cognition, 188, 3950.Google Scholar
Peters, K., Kashima, Y., & Clark, A. (2009). Talking about others: Emotionality and the dissemination of social information. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 207222.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. (2016). Partisanship and political animosity in 2016. www.pewresearch.org/politics/2016/06/22/partisanship-and-political-animosity-in-2016/Google Scholar
Preston, S., Anderson, A., Robertson, D. J., Shephard, M. P., & Huhe, N. (2021). Detecting fake news on Facebook: The role of emotional intelligence. PLoS ONE, 16(3), e0246757.Google Scholar
Radnitz, S., & Underwood, P. (2017). Is belief in conspiracy theories pathological? A survey on the cognitive roots of extreme suspicion. British Journal of Political Science, 47, 113129.Google Scholar
Reis, J., Benevenuto, F., Olmo, P., Prates, R., Kwak, H., & An, J. (2015). Breaking the news: First impressions matter on online news. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Web and Social Media, ICWSM 2015, Oxford, UK, May 26–29 (pp. 357–366). https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/5339Google Scholar
Roose, K. (2021, June 15). What is QAnon, the viral pro-Trump conspiracy theory? New York Times. www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-qanon.htmlGoogle Scholar
Roozenbeek, J., & van der Linden, S. (2019). The fake news game: Actively inoculating against the risk of misinformation. Journal of Risk Research, 22, 570580.Google Scholar
Sanchez, C., & Dunning, D. (2021). Cognitive and emotional correlates of belief in political misinformation: Who endorses partisan misbeliefs? Emotion, 21(5), 10911102.Google Scholar
Skurka, C. (2019). You mad? Using anger appeals to promote activism intentions and policy support in the context of sugary drink marketing to kids. Health Communication, 34(14), 17751787.Google Scholar
Smith, C. A., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1985). Patterns of cognitive appraisal in emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 813838.Google Scholar
Starcke, K., & Brand, M. (2012). Decision making under stress: A selective review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 36, 12281248.Google Scholar
Swami, V., Furnham, A., Smyth, N., Weis, L., Lay, A., & Clow, A. (2016). Putting the stress on conspiracy theories: Examining associations between psychological stress, anxiety, and belief in conspiracy theories, Personality and Individual Differences, 99, 7276.Google Scholar
Swami, V., Voracek, M., Stieger, S., Tran, U. S., & Furnham, A. (2014). Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories. Cognition, 133(3), 572585.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tornoe, R. (2021, March 1). Journalists battle the misinformation pandemic Editor & Publisher. www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/journalists-battle-the-misinformation-pandemic,187699Google Scholar
Turner, M. M. (2007). Using emotion in risk communication: The anger activism model. Public Relations Review, 33, 114119.Google Scholar
Turner, M. M., Richards, A. S., Bessarabova, E., & Magid, Y. (2020). The effects of anger appeals on systematic processing and intentions: The moderating role of efficacy. Communication Reports, 33, 1426.Google Scholar
Turton, W., & Brustein, J. (2020, October 7). QAnon high priest was just trolling away as a Citigroup tech executive. Bloomberg. www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-10-07/who-is-qanon-evangelist-qmap-creator-and-former-citigroup-exec-jason-gelinasGoogle Scholar
Valentino, N. A., Hutchings, V. H., Banks, A. J., & Davis, A. K. (2008). Is a worried citizen a good citizen? Emotions, political information seeking, and learning via the Internet. Political Psychology, 29, 247273.Google Scholar
van Zomeren, M., Saguy, T., Mazzoni, D., & Cicognani, E. (2018). The curious, context-dependent case of anger: Explaining voting intentions in three different national elections. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48(6), 329338.Google Scholar
Verplanken, B., & Holland, R. W. (2002). Motivated decision making: Effects of activation and self-centrality of values on choices and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(3), 434447.Google Scholar
Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 11461151.Google Scholar
Weeks, B. E. (2015). Emotions, partisanship, and misperceptions: How anger and anxiety moderate the effect of partisan bias on susceptibility to political misinformation. Journal of Communication, 65, 699719.Google Scholar
Weeks, B. E., & Garrett, R. K. (2019). Emotional characteristics of social media and political misperceptions. In Katz, J. E. & Mays, K. K. (Eds.), Journalism and truth in an age of social media (pp. 236250). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

References

Amarasingam, A., & Argentino, M. A. (2020a, October 28). QAnon’s predictions haven’t come true; so how does the movement survive the failure of prophecy? Religion Dispatches. https://religiondispatches.org/qanons-predictions-havent-come-true-so-how-does-the-movement-survive-the-failure-of-prophecy/Google Scholar
Amarasingam, A., & Argentino, M. A. (2020b). The QAnon conspiracy theory: A security threat in the making? CTC Sentinel, 13(7). www.ctc.usma.edu/the-qanon-conspiracy-theory-a-security-threat-in-the-making/Google Scholar
Anthony, D. (1990). Religious movements and brainwashing litigation: Evaluating key testimony. In Robbins, T. & Anthony, D. (Eds.), In gods we trust (pp. 295344). Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Anthony, D., & Robbins, T. (2004). Pseudoscience and minority religions: In Richardson, J. T. (Ed.), Regulating religion: Case studies from around the globe (pp. 127149). Kluwer.Google Scholar
Argentino, M. A. (2020, May 18). The church of QAnon: Will conspiracy theories form the basis of a new religious movement? The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-church-of-qanon-will-conspiracy-theories-form-the-basis-of-a-new-religious-movement-137859Google Scholar
Balch, R., & Taylor, D. (1978). Seekers and saucers: The role of the cultic milieu in joining an UFO cult. In Richardson, J. T. (Ed.), Conversion careers: In and out of the new religions (pp. 95116). Sage.Google Scholar
Barker, E. (1984). The making of a Moonie: Brainwashing or choice? Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Beaty, K. (2020, August 17). QAnon: The alternative religion that’s coming to your church. Religion News Service. https://religionnews.com/2020/08/17/qanon-the-alternative-religion-thats-coming-to-your-church/Google Scholar
Beckford, J. (1978). Through the looking glass and out the other side: Withdrawal from Rev. Moon’s Unification Church. Archives des Science Sociales des Religious, 45, 95116.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, R. (2021, May 11). QAnon resembles the games I design. But for believers, there is no winning. Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/qanon-game-plays-believers/2021/05/10/31d8ea46-928b-11eb-a74e-1f4cf89fd948_story.htmlGoogle Scholar
Beverly, J. (2020). The QAnon deception: Everything you need to know about the world’s most dangerous conspiracy theory. EqualTime Books.Google Scholar
Bird, F., & Reimer, B. (1982). Participation rates in new religious movements and para-religious movements. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 21, 114.Google Scholar
Brasher, B. (2001). Give me that online religion. Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Bromley, D., & Breschel, E. (1992). General population and institutional elite support for control of new religious movements: Evidence from national survey data. Behavioral Science and the Law, 10, 3952.Google Scholar
Bromley, D., & Richardson, J. T. (1983). The brainwashing/deprogramming controversy. Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Cheruvallil-Contractor, S., & Shakkour, S. (2016). Digital methodologies in the sociology of religion. Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Cowan, D. (2005). Cyberhenge: Modern pagans on the internet. Routledge.Google Scholar
Dawson, L. (1999). When prophecy fails and faith persists: A theoretical overview. Nova Religio, 3(1), 6082.Google Scholar
Dawson, L. (2021, January 21). Keeping faith with Trump: The dangerous causes and consequences. International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. https://icct.nl/publication/keeping-faith-with-trump-the-dangerous-causes-and-the-consequences/Google Scholar
Dawson, L., & Cowan, D. (2004). Religion online: Finding faith on the internet. Routledge.Google Scholar
Festinger, L., Riecken, H., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails: A social and psychological study of a group that predicted the destruction of the world. University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Flacks, R. (1967). The liberated generation: An exploration of the roots of student protest. Journal of Social Issues, 23, 5275.Google Scholar
Flacks, R. (1973). Youth and social change. Markham.Google Scholar
Freedman, J., & Fraser, S. (1966). Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4(2), 195202.Google Scholar
Galanter, M. (1978). The “relief effect”: A sociobiological model of neurotic stress and large group therapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 588591.Google Scholar
Galanter, M. (1980). Psychological induction into the lager group: Findings from a modern religious sect. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 15741578.Google Scholar
Garry, A., Walther, S., Rukaya, R., & Mohammed, A. (2021). QAnon conspiracy theory: Examining its evolution and mechanisms of radicalization. Journal of Deradicalization, 26, 152216.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, G., & Richardson, J. T. (1998). “Brainwashing” evidence in light of Daubert. In Reece, H. (Ed.), Law and science (pp. 265288). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hadden, J., & Cowan, D. (2000). Religion on the internet: Research prospects and promises. JAI Press.Google Scholar
Jaffe, G., & Del Real, J. (2021, February 23). Life among the ruins: “I want my family back.” Seattle Times. www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/life-amid-the-ruins-of-qanon-i-wanted-my-family-back/Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. (2021, May 27). Survey: White evangelicals, Hispanic Protestants, Mormons most likely to believe in QAnon. Religious News Service. https://religionnews.com/2021/05/27/survey-white-evangelicals-hispanic-protestants-and-mormons-most-likely-believe-in-qanon/Google Scholar
Kilbourne, B., & Richardson, J. T. (1984). Psychotherapy and the new religions in a pluralistic society. American Psychologist, 39, 237251.Google Scholar
Kilbourne, B., & Richardson, J. T. (1988). A social psychological analysis of healing. Journal of Integrative and Eclectic Psychotherapy, 7(1), 2034.Google Scholar
Kilbourne, B., & Richardson, J. T. (1989). Paradigm conflict, types of conversion, and conversion theories. Sociological Analysis, 50(1), 121.Google Scholar
LaFrance, A. (2020, May 13). The prophecies of Q: American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase. The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/gGoogle Scholar
Levine, S. (1986). Radical departures: Desperate detours to growing up. Harvest Books.Google Scholar
Levine, J., & Russo, E. (1988). Majority and minority influence. In Hedrick, C. (Ed.), Group processes (pp. 1354). Sage.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. (1961). Thought reform and the psychology of totalism. Victor Gollancz.Google Scholar
Milgram, S., & Toch, H. (1969). Collective behavior: Crowds and social movements. In Lindzey, G. & Aronson, E. (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology. Vol. 4: Group psychology and phenomena of interaction (pp. 507610). Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Moreland, R., & Levine, J. (1985). Socialization in small groups: Temporal change in individual–group relations. In Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 143169). Academic Press.Google Scholar
Neumann, E. (2021, February 19). Former DHS official: Right-wing extremists and white supremacists targeting QAnon followers for recruitment [Interview]. 60 Minutes. www.cbsnews.com/news/qanon-conspiracy-capitol-riots-60-minutes-2021-02-19/Google Scholar
Pliner, P., Hart, H., Kohl, J., & Saari, D. (1974). Compliance without pressure: Some further data on the foot-in-the-door technique. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 1724.Google Scholar
Possami-Inesedy, A., & Nixon, A. (2019). The digital social: Religion and belief. De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Rahn, W., & Patterson, D. (2021, March 29). What is the QAnon conspiracy theory? CBS News. www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-the-qanon-conspiracy-theory/Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1978). Conversion careers: In and out of the new religions. Sage.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1985). The active versus passive convert: Paradigm conflict in conversion/recruitment research. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 24, 163179.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1991). Cult/brainwashing cases and the freedom of religion. Journal of Church and State, 33, 5574.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1992). Mental health of cult consumers. In Schumacher, J. (Ed.), Religion and mental health (pp. 233244). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1993a). Definitions of cult: From sociological-technical to popular-negative. Review of Religious Research, 34(4), 348356.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1993b). Religiosity as deviance: Use and misuse of the DMS with participations new religions. Deviant Behavior, 14, 121.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1993c). A social psychological critique of “brainwashing” claims about recruitment to new religions. In Hadden, J. & Bromley, D. (Eds.), The handbook of sects and cults in America (pp. 7597). JAI Books.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1995). Clinical and personality assessment of participants in new religions. International Journal of Psychology of Religion, 5(3), 145170.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (2011). Deprogramming: From private self-help to governmental organized repression. Crime, Law, and Social Change, 55, 321336.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (2014a). Brainwashing and forensic evidence. In Morewitz, S. & Goldstein, M. (Eds.), Handbook of forensic sociology (pp. 7785). Springer.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (2014b). “Brainwashing” and mental health. In Friedman, H. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of mental health (2nd ed., pp. 210215). Academic Press.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (2021). The myth of the omnipotent leader: Social construction of a misleading account of leadership in new religious movements. Nova Religio, 24, 1125.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T., Balch, R., & Melton, G. (1993). Problems of research and data in the study of new religions. In Hadden, J. & Bromley, D. (Eds.), The handbook of sects and cults in America (pp. 213229). JAI Books.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T., Bromley, D., & Best, J. (1991). The satanism scare. Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T., van der Lans, J., & Derks, F. (1986). Leaving and labeling: Voluntary and coerced disaffiliation from religious social movements. In Lang, F., Lang, G., & Kriesberg, L. (Eds.), Research in social movements, conflicts and change (pp. 97126). JAI Books.Google Scholar
Rogers, K. (2020, October 29). QAnon isn’t going to take over Congress in 2020. But it’s found a home in the GOP. FiveThirtyEight. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/qanon-isnt-going-to-take-over-congress-in-2020-but-its-found-a-home-in-the-gop/Google Scholar
Rogers, K. (2021, March 4). Why QAnon has attracted so many white evangelicals. FiveThirtyEight. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-qanon-has-attracted-so-many-white-evangelicals/Google Scholar
Rosenberg, M. (2020, November 10). Republican voters take a radical conspiracy theory mainstream. New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/us/politics/qanon-trump-republicans.htmlGoogle Scholar
Schein, E. (1961). Coercion persuasion. W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Schulson, M. (2021, February 24). Can cult studies offer help with QAnon? The science is thin. Undark. https://undark.org/2021/02/24/cult-studies-qanon/Google Scholar
Scott, M., & Lyman, S. (1968). Accounts. American Sociological Review, 33(1), 4662.Google Scholar
Shupe, A., & Bromley, D. (1980). The new vigilantes: Anti-cultists and the new religions. Sage.Google Scholar
Singer, M. (1979). Coming out of the cults. Psychology Today, 12, 7282.Google Scholar
Skolnick, J. (1969). The politics of protest. Ballentine Books.Google Scholar
Stark, R. (1971). Psychopathology and religious commitment. Review of Religious Research, 12, 165176.Google Scholar
Stark, R., & Bainbridge, W. (1980). Networks of faith: Interpersonal bonds and recruitment to cults and sects. American Journal of Sociology, 85, 376395.Google Scholar
Straus, R. (1976). Changing oneself: Seekers and the creative transformation of life experience. In Lofland, J. (Ed.), Doing social life (pp. 252273). John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Straus, R. (1979). Religious conversion as a personal and collective accomplishment. Sociological Analysis, 40, 158165.Google Scholar
Thomas, P. (2021, April 15). “Deprogramming” QAnon followers ignores free will and why they adopted the beliefs in the first place.” The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/deprogramming-qanon-followers-ignores-free-will-and-why-they-adopted-the-beliefs-in-the-first-place-158372Google Scholar
Tumminia, D. (2005). When prophecy never fails: Myth and reality in a flying-saucer group. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, S. (1987). Leaving cults: The dynamics of defection. The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×