Centre of social and psychological sciences SAS
Topic
Belief in conspiracy theories and quality of interpersonal relationships
PhD. program
Health psychology
Year of admission
2025
Name of the supervisor
Mgr. Jakub Šrol, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Comenius University in Bratislava
Annotation
Psychological research on conspiracy beliefs in recent years has led to the identification of many causes and consequences of trust in conspiracy theories. One area of this research that remains almost entirely unexplored concerns how conspiracy beliefs influence and are influenced by interpersonal relationships. While loneliness and social exclusion may contribute to trust in conspiracy theories, conspiracy beliefs are, in turn, associated with lower satisfaction in close relationships, potentially leading to a vicious cycle of mutually reinforcing dynamics. The aim of this work is to better understand the mechanisms underlying these relationships and to potentially identify factors that can mitigate the negative effects of trust in conspiracy theories on the quality of interpersonal relationships.