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Portrait of Pia Lamberty
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Psychology Conspiracy Ideology Antisemitism

About Pia Lamberty

Pia Lamberty is a co-founder of CeMAS and heads the policy and research unit as a Senior Researcher. Holding a PhD in psychology, she conducts research on why individuals believe in conspiracy theories as well as on the effects of holding such worldviews. As part of her PhD at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, she focused on the role of conspiracy beliefs in the health sector. Her research has taken her to universities in Cologne, Mainz and Beersheva (Israel). As a research associate, she was involved in the project “Seventy Years Later: Historical Representations of the Holocaust and their effects on German-Israeli Relations”, among others. Lamberty places herself at the interface between academia and society, and provides evidence-based assessments of conspiracy narratives, disinformation, antisemitism, and right-wing extremism. Her non-fiction book Fake Facts - Wie Verschwörungstheorien unser Denken bestimmen (“Fake Facts - How Conspiracy Theories Influence Our Thinking”), published with Katharina Nocun in May 2020, was a DER SPIEGEL beststeller. This was followed in May 2021 by True Facts - Was gegen Verschwörungserzählungen wirklich hilft (“True Facts - What Really Helps to Counter Conspiracy Narratives”). In Autumn 2022, Lamberty and Nocun published their third book together: Gefährlicher Glaube - Die radikale Gedankenwelt der Esoterik (“Dangerous Beliefs - The Radical World of Esoteric Thought”).

Quotes

„The last few weeks in particular have once again made clear that ‘Day X’ scenarios and the danger of right-wing terrorism has not been averted. This scene has become strongly radicalized within the last two years and shows a clear propensity for violence. As it cannot be assumed that the end of the [COVID public health] measures will bring an end to these networks, there is an urgent need to act.“

Federal press conference

Publications (Selection)

Lamberty, P. (2022). Causes of belief in conspiracy narratives and recommendations for successful risk communication in healthcare. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz. 65(5):537-544

Lamberty, P., & Imhoff, R. (2021). Verschwörungserzählungen im Kontext der Coronapandemie. Psychotherapeut, 66(3), 203-208.

Lamberty, P., & Imhoff, R. (2018). Powerful pharma and its marginalized alternatives?. Social Psychology, 49, 255-270.

Nocun, K., & Lamberty, P. (2022). Gefährlicher Glaube: Die radikale Gedankenwelt der Esoterik. Köln: Quadriga.

Kazarovytska, F., Kretzschmar, M., Lamberty, P., Rees, J., Knausenberger, J., & Imhoff, R. (2022). From Moral Disaster to Moral Entitlement–The Impact of Success in Dealing With a Perpetrator Past on Perceived Ingroup Morality and Claims for Historical Closure. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 10(1), 48-71.

Adam‐Troian, J., Wagner‐Egger, P., Motyl, M., Arciszewski, T., Imhoff, R., Zimmer, F.,…Lamberty, P.,.. & van Prooijen, J. W. (2021). Investigating the links between cultural values and belief in conspiracy theories: The key roles of collectivism and masculinity. Political Psychology, 42(4), 597-618.

Nocun, K., & Lamberty, P. (2020). Fake Facts: Wie Verschwörungstheorien unser Denken bestimmen. Köln: Bastei Lübbe.

Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. (2020). A bioweapon or a hoax? The link between distinct conspiracy beliefs about the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and pandemic behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(8), 1110-1118.

Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. (2020). Conspiracies as psycho-political reactions to perceived power. In M. Butter & P. Knight (Hrsg.). Routledge handbook of conspiracy theories. London: Routledge.

Rees, J., & Lamberty, P. (2019). Mitreißende Wahrheiten: Verschwörungsmythen als Gefahr für den gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt. In Verlorene Mitte-Feindselige Zustände. Rechtsextreme Einstellungen in Deutschland 2018/19 (hrsg. für die Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung von Franziska Schröter).

Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. (2018). How paranoid are conspiracy believers? Toward a more fine‐grained understanding of the connect and disconnect between paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories. European journal of social psychology, 48(7), 909-926.

Imhoff, R., Lamberty, P., & Klein, O. (2018). Using power as a negative cue: How conspiracy mentality affects epistemic trust in sources of historical knowledge. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44, 1364-1379.

Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. K. (2017). Too special to be duped: Need for uniqueness motivates conspiracy beliefs. European journal of social psychology, 47, 724-734.

Presentations and Talks (Selected)

„Alternative Fakten – leben wir im selben Universum?“: 22. Karlsruher Verfassungsgespräch im Bundesverfassungsgericht mit Dr. Michael Blume, Pia Lamberty, Bettina Limperg, Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf, Prof. Dr. Maren Urner. Moderiert wird die Diskussion von Jörg Schönenborn, Programmdirektor des Westdeutschen Rundfunks., 22.5.2022

Podiumsdiskussion mit Ministerpräsident Winfried Kretschmann beim Barcamp “Politoscope” zur politischen Netzkommunikation, 19.5.2022 Key Note Chemnitz University of Technology Interdisciplinary Online Conference on Political Psychology, 10.03.2022

“Querdenker:” A Conversation among Pia Lamberty, Natascha Strobl, Konstantin von Notz, and Christian Martin. Deutsches Haus at NYU, NYU’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies and the American Council on Germany, 01.02.2021.

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