Social psychological origins of conspiracy theories and monological belief systems and their associations between individual psychological differences and real-world and fictitious conspiracy theories have been extensively studied before. The current theoretical and methodological approach acknowledges conspiracy theories as a means of constructing and communicating a set of personal values. Likewise, the dietary pattern is – at least partially- indicative of personal values. Conspiratorial thinking has been particularly associated with paranoia. Interestingly, many dietary deficiencies including but not limited to vitamin B12 deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia are strongly linked to paranoia. Other psychiatric manifestations such as delusions, cognitive dysfunction, memory impairment, delirium, and dementia, affective syndromes are linked to paranoia. However, despite well-established evidence of a strong link between diet and psychological status and widespread belief in conspiracy theories, there remains a dearth of research on the individual difference dietary patterns correlates of conspiracist ideation. Based on the above-mentioned premises, it can be hypothesized that dietary patterns have the potential to impact conspiratorial thinking through the mediation of psychological correlates such as paranoia and other variables.
This Research Topic calls for original papers, study protocols, thought experiments, and synthetic reviews as a basis for future studies exploring the potential of nutritional sciences and/or neuroscience-psychology for prediction or anticipation of human agent's conspiratorial thinking under different physiological and pathological situations (for instance alcohol/drug addictions, cancers, brain tumors, suicidal thoughts, and behaviors, etc.) and nutritional status and dietary patterns. It is expected that submitted manuscripts will help novel technical and methodological developments.
Topics include but are not limited to the following:
• Questionnaire studies: A broad range including cross-sectional to explorative longitudinal questionnaire studies- linking dietary patterns (and/or dietary deficiencies) with correlates of conspiracy theory (and/or conspiratorial thinking).
• Brain imaging techniques: Studies linking/exploring conspiratorial thinking with dietary patterns.
• Comparative and retrospective studies: studies comparing dietary patterns in relation to patterns of neurotransmitters, and measures of standardized questionnaires in different subjects and/or situations. Furthermore, studies investigating the correlation of conspiracy theory (and/or conspiratorial thinking with different dietary indices (such as dietary inflammatory index, etc.) and/or different biomarkers of dietary exposure/deficiencies are welcome.
Social psychological origins of conspiracy theories and monological belief systems and their associations between individual psychological differences and real-world and fictitious conspiracy theories have been extensively studied before. The current theoretical and methodological approach acknowledges conspiracy theories as a means of constructing and communicating a set of personal values. Likewise, the dietary pattern is – at least partially- indicative of personal values. Conspiratorial thinking has been particularly associated with paranoia. Interestingly, many dietary deficiencies including but not limited to vitamin B12 deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia are strongly linked to paranoia. Other psychiatric manifestations such as delusions, cognitive dysfunction, memory impairment, delirium, and dementia, affective syndromes are linked to paranoia. However, despite well-established evidence of a strong link between diet and psychological status and widespread belief in conspiracy theories, there remains a dearth of research on the individual difference dietary patterns correlates of conspiracist ideation. Based on the above-mentioned premises, it can be hypothesized that dietary patterns have the potential to impact conspiratorial thinking through the mediation of psychological correlates such as paranoia and other variables.
This Research Topic calls for original papers, study protocols, thought experiments, and synthetic reviews as a basis for future studies exploring the potential of nutritional sciences and/or neuroscience-psychology for prediction or anticipation of human agent's conspiratorial thinking under different physiological and pathological situations (for instance alcohol/drug addictions, cancers, brain tumors, suicidal thoughts, and behaviors, etc.) and nutritional status and dietary patterns. It is expected that submitted manuscripts will help novel technical and methodological developments.
Topics include but are not limited to the following:
• Questionnaire studies: A broad range including cross-sectional to explorative longitudinal questionnaire studies- linking dietary patterns (and/or dietary deficiencies) with correlates of conspiracy theory (and/or conspiratorial thinking).
• Brain imaging techniques: Studies linking/exploring conspiratorial thinking with dietary patterns.
• Comparative and retrospective studies: studies comparing dietary patterns in relation to patterns of neurotransmitters, and measures of standardized questionnaires in different subjects and/or situations. Furthermore, studies investigating the correlation of conspiracy theory (and/or conspiratorial thinking with different dietary indices (such as dietary inflammatory index, etc.) and/or different biomarkers of dietary exposure/deficiencies are welcome.
