About Dr. Pia Lamberty
Pia Lamberty is a co-founder of CeMAS, serving as its managing director from March 2021 to July 2024 before becoming its lead psychological analyst.
While at CeMAS, she developed strategic policy recommendations based on the latest behavioural science findings. Her research focuses on the psychological consequences of disinformation, anti-Semitism, right-wing extremism, and conspiracy ideologies in the context of crises and disasters.
She completed her doctorate at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, investigating the role of conspiracy beliefs in the health sector. Her research has taken her to the universities of Cologne, Mainz, and Beer Sheva in Israel. As a research assistant, she was involved in the project ‘Seventy Years Later: Historical Representations of the Holocaust and their Effects on German–Israeli Relations'. She has co-authored two non-fiction books with Katharina Nocun: ‘Fake Facts: How Conspiracy Theories Shape Our Thinking’ (‘Fake Facts – Wie Verschwörungstheorien unser Denken bestimmen’) and ‘Dangerous Beliefs: The Radical World of Esoteric Thought’ (‘Gefährlicher Glaube – Die radikale Gedankenwelt der Esoterik’), which appeared on the renowned Spiegel bestseller list.
As a psychologist, she has spent years researching why people believe in conspiracy narratives and the consequences of this worldview. Dr Pia Lamberty operates at the intersection of science and society, providing evidence-based information on conspiracy narratives, disinformation, anti-Semitism and the far-right.
Since 1 November 2025, Dr Pia Lamberty has been pursuing new challenges and responsibilities outside CeMAS.
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
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.
Lamberty, P., & Imhoff, R. (2021). Verschwörungserzählungen im Kontext der Coronapandemie. Psychotherapeut, 66(3), 203-208.
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.
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.
Nocun, K., & Lamberty, P. (2020). Fake Facts: Wie Verschwörungstheorien unser Denken bestimmen. Köln: Bastei Lübbe.
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).
Lamberty, P., & Imhoff, R. (2018). Powerful pharma and its marginalized alternatives?. Social Psychology, 49, 255-270.
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.
Talks and Appearances (Selection)
Blume, M., Lamberty, P., Limperg, B., Rahmstorf, S., Urner M. & Schönenborn, J. (2022, 22. 05.). „Alternative Fakten – leben wir im selben Universum?“. [Podiumsdiskussion]. 22. Karlsruher Verfassungsgespräch im Bundesverfassungsgericht.
Lamberty, P. & Kretschmann, W. (2022, 19. 05.). [Podiumsdiskussion mit Ministerpräsident Winifried Kretschmann]. Barcamp “Politoscope” zur politischen Netzkommunikation.
Lamberty,P. (2022, 10. 03.). [Key Note Political Psychology]. Interdisciplinary Online Conference on Political Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology.
Lamberty, P. (2021, 01. 02.). “Querdenker:” A Conversation among Pia Lamberty, Natascha Strobl, Konstantin von Notz, and Christian Martin. [Podiumsdiskussion]. Deutsches Haus at NYU, NYU’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies and the American Council on Germany.