Karen Douglas

Karen Douglas

Karen Douglas appears on this site as first author of the 2017 Current Directions in Psychological Science paper and the 2019 chapter on belief in conspiracy theories.

Who they are

The work of Karen Douglas reaches this site through the papers listed below. On this site the name is tied to Conspiracy Belief.

Key papers

Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The psychology of conspiracy theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538-542. What it reports: A short review proposing that belief in conspiracy theories is driven by three kinds of motive: epistemic (understanding one's surroundings), existential (feeling safe and in control) and social (keeping a positive image of oneself and one's group).

Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2019). Belief in conspiracy theories. In The Social Psychology of Gullibility. Routledge. What it reports: A chapter setting out the same three motives and arguing that people who believe conspiracy theories are not indiscriminate and should not be dismissed as gullible.

Key ideas

Conspiracy Belief: Acceptance of an explanation in which a hidden group is responsible for events; researchers describe epistemic, existential and social motives behind it.

Sources

  1. Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The psychology of conspiracy theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538-542.
  2. Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2019). Belief in conspiracy theories. In The Social Psychology of Gullibility. Routledge.