About EUR 4 million for collaborative research project in psychology and communication science led by Mainz University

A new Research Unit will examine conspiracy theories from a perspective that has received little attention to date: rather than focusing solely on their negative consequences, it will also investigate the functions they may serve for individuals, groups, and societies. The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) will fund the project at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in collaboration with seven other research institutions over the next four years with approximately EUR 4 million. Of this, roughly EUR 1.2 million will go to the subproject of JGU. A four-year extension of the funding is possible thereafter.

"Conspiracy theories have so far been studied mainly with a view to their negative consequences," said Professor Roland Imhoff, who heads the Department of Social and Legal Psychology at JGU and coordinates the new Research Group. "We want to broaden this perspective and systematically ask which psychological, social, or societal functions they may fulfill under certain conditions."

Politics, social media, and psychological motives

The new Research Unit – titled "Beyond Crazy: Integrating Benefits into the Analysis of Conspiracy Beliefs" – brings together researchers from psychology and communication science. By combining both disciplines, the group aims to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how conspiracy theories work and what functions they may serve in different contexts. In addition to JGU, the participating institutions are Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, the University of Mannheim, the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, and the Leibniz Institute for Psychology in Trier.

The new Research Unit focuses on three areas. First, it addresses conspiracy theories in politics, examining, for example, what role they play in political attitudes, political engagement, and identity formation, and how they relate to radicalization or distrust of institutions. A second focus is on social media, where conspiracy theories are disseminated and discussed particularly rapidly. The third focus concerns the psychological motives that foster such beliefs – for example, the desire for control, a sense of belonging, or simple explanations for complex events.

The Research Unit assumes that the potential functions of conspiracy theories and their negative consequences need not be contradictory. "What may offer individuals short-term orientation, belonging, or a sense of control can, in the long term, foster distrust, societal division, or radicalization," said Imhoff. The researchers aim to examine more precisely under which conditions such differing effects arise and how they relate to one another.

Conspiracy theories in adolescence

The JGU subproject focuses on the development of conspiratorial worldviews in adolescence. "Through studies in schools and families, we are trying to better understand which factors encourage young people to view the world as steered by hidden powers," said Imhoff, who has been conducting research on conspiracy beliefs and their political and societal consequences at JGU for many years. "These factors might include the feeling that one understands world events better, having a knowledge advantage over peers, being perceived as unique by them, avoiding conflicts within the family, or feeling confirmed in the belief that one cannot trust authorities." Such experiences may, at least in the short term, be experienced as positive and may contribute to making conspiratorial explanations attractive to adolescents – or to consolidating such beliefs.