Philosophy

Appeal

Collective action

Social psychology

Social group

Collective identity

Prejudice (legal term)

Physics

Identity (music)

Social identity theory

Social identity approach

Aesthetics

Psychology

Politics

Astronomy

Political science

Normative

Epistemology

Great Rift

Social movement

Conformity

Current Opinion in Psychology

Social change does not always equal social progress-there is a dark side of social movements. We discuss conspiracy theory beliefs - beliefs that a powerful group of people are secretly working towards a malicious goal - as one contributor to destructive social movements. Research has linked conspiracy theory beliefs to anti-democratic attitudes, prejudice and non-normative political behavior. We propose a framework to understand the motivational processes behind conspiracy theories and associated social identities and collective action. We argue that conspiracy theories comprise at least two components - content and qualities-that appeal to people differently based on their motivations. Social identity motives draw people foremost to contents of conspiracy theories while uniqueness motives draw people to qualities of conspiracy theories.

The dark side of social movements: social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories