{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T16:56:01Z","timestamp":1789750561107,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID)","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Eur. J. Psychol."],"abstract":"<p>Collective traumas may often lead to deep societal divides and internal conflicts. In this article, we propose that conspiracy theories emerging in response to victimizing events may play a key role in the breakdown of social cohesion. We performed a nationally representative survey in Poland (N = 965) two years after the Smole\u0144sk airplane crash in which the Polish president was killed, together with 95 political officials and high-ranking military officers. The survey found that people endorsing conspiratorial accounts of the Smole\u0144sk catastrophe preferred to distance themselves from conspiracy non-believers, while skeptics preferred greater distance to conspiracy believers. We also examined the role of people\u2019s belief in the uniqueness of in-group historical suffering as an important antecedent of both conspiracy thinking and hostility towards outgroups (conspiracy believers and non-believers).<\/p>","DOI":"10.5964\/ejop.v15i1.1699","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,28]],"date-time":"2019-02-28T07:46:52Z","timestamp":1551340012000},"page":"82-93","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":50,"title":["Traumatic rift: How conspiracy beliefs undermine cohesion after societal trauma?"],"prefix":"10.5964","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Michal","family":"Bilewicz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marta","family":"Witkowska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Myrto","family":"Pantazi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Theofilos","family":"Gkinopoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Olivier","family":"Klein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1941","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"r1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/0162-895X.00160"},{"key":"r2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1816383109990221"},{"key":"r3","first-page":"234","article-title":"Anti-Semitism in Poland and Ukraine: The belief in Jewish control as a mechanism of scapegoating.","author":"Bilewicz","year":"2010","journal-title":"International Journal of Conflict and Violence"},{"key":"r4","first-page":"299","article-title":"Measuring social distance.","author":"Bogardus","year":"1925","journal-title":"Journal of Applied Sociology"},{"key":"r5","unstructured":"Borger, J., & Pidd, H. (2011, April 8). Smolensk air crash \u2013 A year on and the scars are yet to heal. The Guardian. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2011\/apr\/08\/poland-smolensk-air-crash-conspiracy"},{"key":"r6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2013.00225"},{"key":"r7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0018933"},{"key":"r8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0956-7976.2004.00741.x"},{"key":"r9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2044-8309.2010.02018.x"},{"key":"r10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5334\/irsp.115"},{"key":"r11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3791630"},{"key":"r12","unstructured":"Grzesiak-Feldman, M., & Haska, A. (2012, November 22). Conspiracy theories surrounding the Polish presidential plane crash near Smolensk, Russia. Retrieved from http:\/\/deconspirator.com\/2012\/11\/22\/conspiracy-theories-surrounding-the-polish-presidential-plane-crash-near-smolensk-russia\/"},{"key":"r13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ejsp.750"},{"key":"r14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jesp.2011.05.007"},{"key":"r15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1751-2409.2011.01027.x"},{"key":"r16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/097133369700900105"},{"key":"r17","unstructured":"Harding, L. (2010, April 10). Polish president Lech Kaczynski killed in plane crash. The Guardian. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2010\/apr\/10\/poland-president-lech-kaczynski-killed"},{"key":"r18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/bjop.12018"},{"key":"r19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0089177"},{"key":"r20","unstructured":"Klein, O., Van der Linden, N., Pantazi, M., & Kissine, M. (2015). Behind the screen conspirators: Paranoid social cognition in an online age. In M. Bilewicz, A. Cichocka, & W. Soral (Eds.), The psychology of conspiracy (pp. 162-182). London, United Kingdom: Routledge."},{"key":"r21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ejsp.2498"},{"key":"r22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/pops.12239"},{"key":"r23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1348\/014466605X27162"},{"key":"r24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Noor, M., Brown, R., & Prentice, G. (2008). Prospects for intergroup reconciliation: Social psychological predictors of intergroup forgiveness and reparation in Northern Ireland and Chile. In A. Nadler, T. E. Malloy, & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), Social psychology of intergroup reconciliation: From violent conflict to peaceful co-existence \u2013 Going beyond victimization, guilt and distrust (pp. 97-114). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780195300314.003.0006"},{"key":"r25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1088868312440048"},{"key":"r26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ejsp.2250"},{"key":"r27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0146167216689063"},{"key":"r28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1559-1816.2005.tb02206.x"},{"key":"r29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0014223"},{"key":"r30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/0162-895X.00082"},{"key":"r31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2012.00280"},{"key":"r32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ejsp.1922"},{"key":"r33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11211-009-0088-1"},{"key":"r34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/sipr.12011"},{"key":"r35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/pops.12174"},{"key":"r36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1159845"},{"key":"r37","unstructured":"Witkowska, M., Bilewicz, M., Pantazi, M., Gkinopoulos, T., & Klein, O. (2018). \u201cHistoria est Magistra Vitae\u201d? The impact of historical victimhood on current conspiracy beliefs. Unpublished manuscript."}],"container-title":["Europe\u2019s Journal of Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/ejop.psychopen.eu\/article\/download\/1699\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/ejop.psychopen.eu\/article\/view\/1699\/html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/ejop.psychopen.eu\/index.php\/ejop\/article\/download\/1699\/1699.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,12]],"date-time":"2021-11-12T17:33:15Z","timestamp":1636738395000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/ejop.psychopen.eu\/article\/view\/1699"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,28]]},"references-count":37,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5964\/ejop.v15i1.1699","relation":{},"ISSN":["1841-0413"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1841-0413","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,28]]}}}