Credence in Conspiracy Theories Inventory

What it measures

Measures generic conspiracy beliefs — not endorsement of any specific conspiracy theory, but the broader tendency to interpret events as the result of secretive, malevolent conspiracies. Higher scores reflect a conspiracist ideation style. Widely used in research on misinformation, trust in institutions, and political psychology.

Response format

Likert (1–5, definitely not true to definitely true)

Representative items

• The government is involved in the murder of innocent citizens and/or well-known public figures.
• A small, secret group of people is responsible for making all major world decisions.
• Evidence of alien contact is being concealed from the public.
• New and advanced technology which would harm current industry is being suppressed.
• Groups of scientists manipulate, fabricate, or suppress evidence in order to deceive the public.

Usage notes & scoring

Freely available — open access. Higher scores = greater generic conspiracy ideation. The scale is content-general (not tied to specific conspiracies), which increases construct validity. Related to but distinct from paranoid ideation in clinical contexts. Used extensively in COVID-19 misinformation research.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Brotherton, R., French, C.C., & Pickering, A.D. (2013). Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: The generic conspiracist beliefs scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, Article 279.

Keywords