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Repeating is not believing: the transmission of conspiracy theories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Sylvain Delouvée
Sylvain Delouvée*
Affiliation:
Univ Rennes, LP3C
*
Sylvain Delouvée, Univ Rennes, LP3C (Laboratoire de Psychologie : Cognition, Comportement, Communication) – EA 1285, F-35000 Rennes, France. Email: sylvain.delouvee@univ-rennes2.fr
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Abstract

Conspiracy theories and rumors, as forms manifesting “social thought” (Rouquette, 1973), share processes and functions. The few studies dealing specifically with the question of belief in rumors questioned the link between adhesion and transmission (Allport & Lepkin 1943; Rosnow, 1991; Guerin & Miyazaki, 2006). The aim here will be to question the link between « knowledge », « adhesion » and « transmission » in conspiracy theories and rumors through two empirical studies. Can we know and transmit without adhering to? Can one know and adhere to without transmitting? Can we adhere to and transmit without actually « knowing »?

Keywords

Conspiracyrumorscollective beliefs
Type
Psychological and sociological approaches
Information
Diogenes , Volume 62 , Issue 3-4: Conspiracy Theories Today , November 2015 , pp. 56 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2020

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