Kenzo Nera
Biographic Data
| ID | 5448963 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kenzo Nera |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kenzo |
| FAMILY NAME | Nera |
| SIGNATURE | NERA K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Université Libre de Bruxelles |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8518-386X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 31 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
From identity to caring
Previous research suggests that people who identify with global communities tend to show greater concern for global challenges. Using student samples from 44 countries across different cultural clusters ( N = 13,055), we examined whether (1) three forms of dispositional global social identification (GSI, with all humanity, citizens of the world, and people all over the world) are related to concern for global issues, (2) situational activation of…
Conspiracy Beliefs and the Perception of Intergroup Inequalities
Conspiracy beliefs are prevalent among members of disadvantaged groups. Adopting a social identity perspective, we hypothesized that these beliefs would reduce the endorsement of internal attributions for inequalities that could negatively affect the image of disadvantaged ingroups. In Study 1 ( n = 1,104), conspiracy mentality was negatively associated with meritocracy beliefs, which attribute success and failure to internal factors. In Studies …
Beyond Weird societies
In an increasingly globalized world challenged by multiple social problems, global social identifications (GSIs, e.g., with all humanity) are concepts of growing interest. Although such identifications can be affected by the cultural contexts in which they are manifested, research on them remains largely confined to Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Using data collected in 45 countries ( N = 9807, preregistere…
The Impact of Freedom of Speech on Conspiracy Beliefs
Conspiracy beliefs are often portrayed as a threat to democracies. However, less is known about the extent to which the state of democracy may affect conspiracy beliefs. Hence, we investigated the impact of the societal level of freedom of speech on conspiracy beliefs. In Study 1, using aggregated nation‐level data ( N = 68 countries), we found that conspiracy beliefs were higher in countries with lower population support for and lower expert‐est…
Convictions or Plausibility Judgements? The Ambiguity of Self‐Reported Agreement With Conspiracy Theories
In three studies ( n s = 582, 790, 495), we examined whether self‐reported agreement with conspiracy theories primarily captures convictions (i.e., firmly held beliefs) or plausibility judgements. Such disambiguation efforts are necessary because interpreting findings in terms of conviction versus plausibility judgements can lead to divergent conclusions (e.g., about the rationality of conspiracy believers). In Study 1, most (76.9%) participants …
Advice‐taking in carbon footprint assessments
In this pre‐registered experiment conducted in the Netherlands and Türkiye ( N total = 550), we investigated how the source of advice (peer vs. expert) influences people's decision‐making when assessing the carbon footprint of a flight between two cities. We also examined whether this effect was influenced by their conspiracy mentality, collective narcissism, epistemic individualism, and climate change scepticism. Our findings suggest that people…
Are conspiracy theory believers drawn to conspiratorial explanations, alternatives explanations, or both
What is so special about conspiracy theories? Conceptually distinguishing beliefs in conspiracy theories from conspiracy beliefs in psychological research
In psychological research, conspiracy theories are often defined as explanations of events involving the hidden action of a malevolent group. Such a definition raises a false negative problem, as it does not capture conspiracy theories that are not about events. It also raises a false positive problem because it categorises any conspiracy-based explanation as a conspiracy theory, even though distinguishing conspiracy theories from other conspirac…
Comparing the ideological correlates of anti-government and anti-Roma conspiracy beliefs in Romania
Conspiracy theories are often viewed as the manifestation of a “conspiracy mentality” grounded in power-challenging attitudes. Contrary to this approach, it has been proposed that conspiracy theories targeting relatively powerful groups (i.e., upward conspiracy theories) may be ideologically distinct from conspiracy theories targeting relatively powerless groups (i.e., downward conspiracy theories). We tested this contention in the Romanian conte…
Defining and explaining conspiracy theories
Despite a growing literature on the topic, little is known about how individuals perceive the label “conspiracy theory”. In two studies, we compare social representations of conspiracy theories, and how these are influenced by individuals’ own conspiracy beliefs. In addition, we examine how these representations relate to how scholars define and explain conspiracy theories. In Study 1, we used lexicometric analysis to explore the vocabulary that …
Social control and solidarity during the Covid ‐19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis which called for two crucial modes of social regulation: social control and social solidarity . In the present pre-registered study, we examine how the perceived non-compliance with health measures relates to attitudes towards these modes of social regulation, as well as to the role played by the perception of disintegrated and disregulated society ( anomie ). Using data from an online cross-sectional survey cond…
Psychologie politique du complotisme à l’ère de la Covid-19
info:eu-repo/semantics/published
Stand out of my sunlight
Despite the scientific consensus about the anthropogenic nature of climate change, there are still obstacles hindering society from acknowledging the severity of the situation. Notably, previous research suggests that climate change threats can cause people to display ethnocentric reactions to preserve the ingroup’s interests. In this research, we investigate the relation between collective narcissism and attitudes towards climate science. We arg…
A power‐challenging theory of society, or a conservative mindset? Upward and downward conspiracy theories as ideologically distinct beliefs
Even though conspiracy theories are diverse, they are typically construed as a homogeneous phenomenon. Using classic theorizations of conspiracy theories by Popper and Moscovici, we propose to distinguish between belief in upward conspiracy theories (i.e., targeting relatively powerful groups) and downward conspiracy theories (i.e., targeting relatively powerless groups). The former are theorized as power‐challenging beliefs and the latter are th…
Conspiracy Beliefs, Rejection of Vaccination, and Support for hydroxychloroquine
Many conspiracy theories appeared along with the COVID-19 pandemic. Since it is documented that conspiracy theories negatively affect vaccination intentions, these beliefs might become a crucial matter in the near future. We conducted two cross-sectional studies examining the relationship between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, vaccine attitudes, and the intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when a vaccine becomes available. We also examined h…
A power‐challenging theory of society, or a conservative mindset? Upward and downward conspiracy theories as ideologically distinct beliefs
Even though conspiracy theories are diverse, they are typically construed as a homogeneous phenomenon. Using classic theorizations of conspiracy theories by Popper and Moscovici, we propose to distinguish between belief in upward conspiracy theories (i.e., targeting relatively powerful groups) and downward conspiracy theories (i.e., targeting relatively powerless groups). The former are theorized as power‐challenging beliefs and the latter are th…
Stand out of my sunlight
Despite the scientific consensus about the anthropogenic nature of climate change, there are still obstacles hindering society from acknowledging the severity of the situation. Notably, previous research suggests that climate change threats can cause people to display ethnocentric reactions to preserve the ingroup’s interests. In this research, we investigate the relation between collective narcissism and attitudes towards climate science. We arg…
Social control and solidarity during the Covid ‐19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis which called for two crucial modes of social regulation: social control and social solidarity . In the present pre-registered study, we examine how the perceived non-compliance with health measures relates to attitudes towards these modes of social regulation, as well as to the role played by the perception of disintegrated and disregulated society ( anomie ). Using data from an online cross-sectional survey cond…
Defining and explaining conspiracy theories
Despite a growing literature on the topic, little is known about how individuals perceive the label “conspiracy theory”. In two studies, we compare social representations of conspiracy theories, and how these are influenced by individuals’ own conspiracy beliefs. In addition, we examine how these representations relate to how scholars define and explain conspiracy theories. In Study 1, we used lexicometric analysis to explore the vocabulary that …
Conspiracy Beliefs, Rejection of Vaccination, and Support for hydroxychloroquine
Many conspiracy theories appeared along with the COVID-19 pandemic. Since it is documented that conspiracy theories negatively affect vaccination intentions, these beliefs might become a crucial matter in the near future. We conducted two cross-sectional studies examining the relationship between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, vaccine attitudes, and the intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when a vaccine becomes available. We also examined h…
Psychologie politique du complotisme à l’ère de la Covid-19
info:eu-repo/semantics/published
Stand out of my sunlight
Despite the scientific consensus about the anthropogenic nature of climate change, there are still obstacles hindering society from acknowledging the severity of the situation. Notably, previous research suggests that climate change threats can cause people to display ethnocentric reactions to preserve the ingroup’s interests. In this research, we investigate the relation between collective narcissism and attitudes towards climate science. We arg…
A power‐challenging theory of society, or a conservative mindset? Upward and downward conspiracy theories as ideologically distinct beliefs
Even though conspiracy theories are diverse, they are typically construed as a homogeneous phenomenon. Using classic theorizations of conspiracy theories by Popper and Moscovici, we propose to distinguish between belief in upward conspiracy theories (i.e., targeting relatively powerful groups) and downward conspiracy theories (i.e., targeting relatively powerless groups). The former are theorized as power‐challenging beliefs and the latter are th…
Defining and explaining conspiracy theories
Despite a growing literature on the topic, little is known about how individuals perceive the label “conspiracy theory”. In two studies, we compare social representations of conspiracy theories, and how these are influenced by individuals’ own conspiracy beliefs. In addition, we examine how these representations relate to how scholars define and explain conspiracy theories. In Study 1, we used lexicometric analysis to explore the vocabulary that …
Social control and solidarity during the Covid ‐19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis which called for two crucial modes of social regulation: social control and social solidarity . In the present pre-registered study, we examine how the perceived non-compliance with health measures relates to attitudes towards these modes of social regulation, as well as to the role played by the perception of disintegrated and disregulated society ( anomie ). Using data from an online cross-sectional survey cond…
What is so special about conspiracy theories? Conceptually distinguishing beliefs in conspiracy theories from conspiracy beliefs in psychological research
In psychological research, conspiracy theories are often defined as explanations of events involving the hidden action of a malevolent group. Such a definition raises a false negative problem, as it does not capture conspiracy theories that are not about events. It also raises a false positive problem because it categorises any conspiracy-based explanation as a conspiracy theory, even though distinguishing conspiracy theories from other conspirac…
Comparing the ideological correlates of anti-government and anti-Roma conspiracy beliefs in Romania
Conspiracy theories are often viewed as the manifestation of a “conspiracy mentality” grounded in power-challenging attitudes. Contrary to this approach, it has been proposed that conspiracy theories targeting relatively powerful groups (i.e., upward conspiracy theories) may be ideologically distinct from conspiracy theories targeting relatively powerless groups (i.e., downward conspiracy theories). We tested this contention in the Romanian conte…
Are conspiracy theory believers drawn to conspiratorial explanations, alternatives explanations, or both
Advice‐taking in carbon footprint assessments
In this pre‐registered experiment conducted in the Netherlands and Türkiye ( N total = 550), we investigated how the source of advice (peer vs. expert) influences people's decision‐making when assessing the carbon footprint of a flight between two cities. We also examined whether this effect was influenced by their conspiracy mentality, collective narcissism, epistemic individualism, and climate change scepticism. Our findings suggest that people…
From identity to caring
Previous research suggests that people who identify with global communities tend to show greater concern for global challenges. Using student samples from 44 countries across different cultural clusters ( N = 13,055), we examined whether (1) three forms of dispositional global social identification (GSI, with all humanity, citizens of the world, and people all over the world) are related to concern for global issues, (2) situational activation of…
Conspiracy Beliefs and the Perception of Intergroup Inequalities
Conspiracy beliefs are prevalent among members of disadvantaged groups. Adopting a social identity perspective, we hypothesized that these beliefs would reduce the endorsement of internal attributions for inequalities that could negatively affect the image of disadvantaged ingroups. In Study 1 ( n = 1,104), conspiracy mentality was negatively associated with meritocracy beliefs, which attribute success and failure to internal factors. In Studies …
Beyond Weird societies
In an increasingly globalized world challenged by multiple social problems, global social identifications (GSIs, e.g., with all humanity) are concepts of growing interest. Although such identifications can be affected by the cultural contexts in which they are manifested, research on them remains largely confined to Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Using data collected in 45 countries ( N = 9807, preregistere…
The Impact of Freedom of Speech on Conspiracy Beliefs
Conspiracy beliefs are often portrayed as a threat to democracies. However, less is known about the extent to which the state of democracy may affect conspiracy beliefs. Hence, we investigated the impact of the societal level of freedom of speech on conspiracy beliefs. In Study 1, using aggregated nation‐level data ( N = 68 countries), we found that conspiracy beliefs were higher in countries with lower population support for and lower expert‐est…
Convictions or Plausibility Judgements? The Ambiguity of Self‐Reported Agreement With Conspiracy Theories
In three studies ( n s = 582, 790, 495), we examined whether self‐reported agreement with conspiracy theories primarily captures convictions (i.e., firmly held beliefs) or plausibility judgements. Such disambiguation efforts are necessary because interpreting findings in terms of conviction versus plausibility judgements can lead to divergent conclusions (e.g., about the rationality of conspiracy believers). In Study 1, most (76.9%) participants …
Misinformation and Its Impacts (11 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (7 works) · Political science (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Politics (4 works) · Sociology (4 works)