Searching for meaning through conspiracy theories. Considerations on the state of the art of psychological literature and definition of a research agenda from a semiotic dynamic cultural perspective

Abstract

Why do conspiracy theories abound in critical times? The purpose of this article is to provide an extensive critical review of research perspectives that focus, in the age of crisis, on the human processes of sensemaking in the creation and diffusion of conspiracy theories. Correlational methods of study are not enough to highlight psychic and collective dynamics. The authors trace some paths through various contributions from different disciplines (from social psychology to psychoanalysis, from neuroscience to cultural psychology), and link some of the psychic mechanisms and factors that have emerged as fundamental in a broad and flexible theoretical framework based on affective semiosis.