Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire
Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ) · Also known as: CMQ, Conspiracy Ideation Scale, Generic Conspiracy Belief
The Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire measures individual differences in generic conspiracy thinking—the tendency to attribute significant events to hidden, coordinated group actions by powerful actors rather than to incompetence, chance, or transparent public causes. Developed by Bruder et al. (2013), the five-item CMQ assesses a stable dispositional trait that predicts belief in diverse conspiracy theories (JFK assassination, 9/11 truthers, anti-vaccine narratives, QAnon) and distrust of institutions. It captures conspiracy mentality as a generalised political attitude distinct from specific beliefs.
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When to use it
Use CMQ as a trait measure in studies of misinformation susceptibility, vaccine hesitancy, political polarization, institutional trust, attitudes toward science, election denial, and radical political movements. Appropriate for general adult populations in any country; validated in 20+ languages and cultures. Useful as a covariate in experiments testing persuasion resistance or media effects. Monitor in longitudinal panels tracking shifts in conspiracy thinking over time. Can be administered online or paper-based. Less suitable for children below age 14 (abstract concepts) or individuals with severe cognitive impairment.
Strengths & limitations
- Measures generic conspiracy mentality independent of specific political content; captures core cognitive bias rather than partisan-specific beliefs.
- Brief (5 items) and easily administered; suitable for large surveys and online research.
- Stable trait with high test-retest reliability (r > 0.80 over weeks to months); reflects dispositional tendency rather than momentary belief.
- Validated across 20+ countries and languages; robust cross-cultural predictions of misinformation susceptibility and anti-vaccine behavior.
- Does not measure specific conspiracy beliefs (e.g., belief in JFK assassination conspiracies, QAnon); only general susceptibility. Combining with content-specific measures is recommended.
- Does not distinguish between healthy skepticism of powerful institutions and irrational pattern-seeking; context (institutional transparency level) critically affects interpretation.
- Correlates with education and socioeconomic status; lower-income and less-educated groups score higher, but causation is unclear (actual lack of information access vs. different epistemic standards).
- Limited by self-report bias; respondents with high conspiracy mentality may underreport if they perceive conspiracy measurement as a diagnostic label.
Frequently asked
Is conspiracy mentality a sign of low intelligence?
No. While lower education correlates with higher CMQ (r = -0.25 to -0.40), controlling for education leaves a residual CMQ effect. Intelligence and conspiracy mentality are weakly correlated. PhD holders can hold conspiracy beliefs if their epistemic standards are met (interpreting coincidences as evidence, valuing non-mainstream sources). The relationship is complex: high-CMQ individuals may engage in sophisticated pattern-seeking that resembles analytical thinking but lacks proper statistical foundations.
Do people with high CMQ always believe all conspiracy theories?
Not uniformly. High-CMQ individuals are more susceptible to conspiracy theories across domains, but they show selective belief based on political worldview and prior commitments. A high-CMQ person might believe 'JFK was assassinated by the CIA' (left-wing conspiracy) or 'election fraud is widespread' (right-wing conspiracy), but not both. However, across a population, high-CMQ scores predict endorsement of conspiracies spanning political ideologies.
Can conspiracy mentality change, or is it fixed?
CMQ is a relatively stable trait (test-retest r > 0.80), but it is not immutable. Major events (elections, pandemics) can shift CMQ temporarily. Education and media literacy interventions show modest effects (1-2 point decreases on 0-100 scale). Narrative framing (focusing on incompetence rather than malice) and source credibility manipulation both affect specific beliefs, though trait CMQ is more resistant. Long-term CMQ reduction likely requires structural changes (improved institutional transparency, economic security) rather than individual interventions.
Is there a difference between conspiracy mentality and healthy skepticism?
Healthy skepticism demands evidence, acknowledges base rates of conspiracy (rare in democracies), and updates beliefs when contradicted by evidence. Conspiracy mentality explains most events through hidden agency, resists falsification ('I'm just asking questions'), and shows lower epistemic standards for conspiracy claims than mainstream accounts. One way to distinguish: does the person accept null results (investigation found no conspiracy) or always demand deeper investigation? Healthy skeptics accept 'conspiracy unlikely'; conspiracy mentality mindset sees investigations as cover-ups.
Sources
- Bruder, M., Haffke, P., Neave, N., Nouripanah, N., & Imhoff, R. (2013). Measuring individual differences in generic beliefs in conspiracy: Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 225. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00225 ↗
- Imhoff, R., & Bruder, M. (2014). Speaking (un-)truth to power: Conspiracy mentality as a generalised political attitude. European Journal of Personality, 28(1), 25-43. DOI: 10.1002/per.1930 ↗
- Swami, V., Coles, R., Stieger, S., Pietschnig, J., Furnham, A., Rehim, S., & Voracek, M. (2011). Conspiracist ideation in Britain and Austria: Validating a scale for the assessment of belief in conspiracy theories. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 46(12), 1189-1198. link ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 3). Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ). ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/political-psychology/conspiracy-mentality-questionnaire
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