The Kennedy assassination, unidentified flying objects, and other conspiracies: Psychological and organizational factors in the perception of "cover-up"

Systems Research and Behavioral Science

Volumn 14, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 113-128

  Harrison, Albert A ^a   Thomas, James Moulton ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Conspiracy; Cover up; John F. Kennedy; Organization; UFO

Indexed keywords

EID: 0031092473     PISSN: 10927026     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1743(199703)14:2<113::aid-sres154>3.0.co;2-2     Document Type: Article

References (53)

1. Anderson, C.A., and Sechler, E. (1986). Effects of explanation and counter-explanation on the development and use of social theories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50(1), 24-34.
2. Anderson, C.A., Lepper, M.R., and Ross, L. (1980). Perseverance of social theories: the role of explanation in the persistence of discredited information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39(1), 1037-1049.
3. Ballester-Olmos, V.-J. (1994). Alleged experience inside UFOs: an analysis of abduction reports. Journal of Scientific Exploration 8, 91-106.
4. Bergsma, L.C., and Bergsma, H.M. Internal-external control and attitudes toward energy conservation and the Warren Commission Report. Journal of Psychology 99(2), 255-257.
5. Bishop, G.F. (1976). Human nature ideology and democratic power ideology. Journal of Social Psychology 99(2), 307-308.
6. Blum, H. (1990). Out there, Bantam Books, New York.
7. Butler, L.D., Koopman, C., and Zimbardo, P.G. (1995). The psychological impact of viewing the film JFK: emotions, beliefs, and political behavioral intentions. Political Psychology 16(2), 237-257.
8. Condon, E.U. (1969). Scientific Study of Unidentified Objects, Bantam Books, New York.
9. Craig, R. (1995). UFOs, an Insider's View of the Official Quest for Evidence, University of North Texas Press, Denton, TX.
10. Cross, H.J., and Kleinhesselink, R.R. (1985). The impact of the 1960s on adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence 5(4), 517-531.
11. DeLoach, C.D. (1995). Hoover's FBI. Regenery Publishing, Washington, D.C.
12. Eagley, A.H., and Chaiken, S. (1993). The Psychology of Attitudes, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Fort Worth, TX.
13. Fonzi, G. (1994). The Last Investigation. Thunder's Mouth Press, New York.
14. Freedman, L.Z. (1984). Social impact of attack on a president: its public reverberations. Behavioral Science and the Law 2(2), 195-206.
15. Goertzel, T. (1994). Belief in conspiracy theories. Political Psychology 15(4), 731-742.
16. Good, T. (1988). Above Top Secret, Morrow, New York.
17. Graumann, F. (1987). Conspiracy: history and social psychology. In Graumann, C.F., and Moscovici, S. (eds), Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy, Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 245-252.
18. Groden, R.J. (1993). The Killing of a President, Viking Studio Books, New York.
19. Groh, D. (1987). The temptation of conspiracy theory, or: why do bad things happen to good people? In Graumann, C.F., and Moscovici, S. (eds), Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy, Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 1-14.
20. Haines, R.F. (1979). Observing UFOs: An Investigation Handbook, Nelson Hall, Chicago.
21. Hamsher, J.H., Geller, J.D., and Rotter, J.B. (1968). Interpersonal trust, internal-external control, and the Warren Commission Report. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1968(9), 210-215.
22. Herek, G., and Capitanio, J.P. (1994). Conspiracies, contagion and compassion: trust and public reactions to AIDS. AIDS Education and Prevention 6(4), 365-375.
23. Hofstadter, R. (1965). The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
24. Kahneman, D., and Tversky, A. (1972). Subjective probability: a judgment of representativeness. Cognitive Psychology 3, 430-449.
25. Katz, J. (1977). Cover-up and collective integrity: on the natural antagonisms of authority internal and external to organizations. Social Problems 25(1), 3-17.
26. Kruglanski, A.W. (1980). Lay epistemologic-process and contents: another look at attribution theory. Psychological Review 87(1), 70-87.
27. Kruglanski, A.W. (1987). Blame placing schemata and attributional research. In Graumann, C.F., and Moscovici, S. (eds), Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy, Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 219-231.
28. Kruglanski, A.W. (1989). Lay Epistemics and Human Knowledge: Cognitive and Motivational Bases, Plenum Press, New York.
29. Kruglanski, A.W. (1990). Lay epistemic theory in social-cognitive psychology. Psychological Inquiry 1(3), 181-197.
30. Kucharski, A. (1984). On being sick and famous. Political Psychology 5(1), 69-81.
31. Lemert, E. (1962). Paranoia and the dynamics of exclusion. Sociometry 25, 2-20.
32. Livingston, H.E. (1995). Killing Kennedy and the Hoax of the Century. Carroll & Graf, New York.
33. Lord, C.G., Ross, L., and Lepper, M.R. (1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: the effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37, 2098-2109.
34. McCauley, C., and Jacques, S. (1979). The popularity of conspiracy theories of presidential assassination: a Bayesian analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37(5), 637-644.
35. McHoskey, J.W. (1995). Case closed? On the John F. Kennedy assassination: biased assimilation of evidence and attitude polarization. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 17(3), 395-409.
36. Mill, J.S. (1952), A System of Logic Ratiocinate and Inductive (8th edn), Longmans, Green, London.
37. Miller, J.G. (1978). Living Systems, McGraw-Hill, New York.
38. Mitroff, I., and Bennis, W. (1989). The Unreality Industry. Birch Lane Press, New York.
39. Moldea, D. (1995). The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy: An Investigation of Motive, Means, and Opportunity, W. W. Norton, New York.
40. Peebles, C. (1994). Watch the Skies! A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myths, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
41. Petty, R.E., and Cacioppo, J.T. (1986). Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change. Springer-Verlag, New York.
42. Posner, G. (1994). Case Closed. Anchor Doubleday, New York.
43. Ross, L. (1977). Shortcomings of the intuitive psychologist. In Berkowitz, L. (ed), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 10, 173-219.
44. Sandman, P.M., Miller, P.M., Johnson, B., and Weinstein, N.D. (1993). Agency communication, community outrage, and perception of risk: three simulation experiments. Risk analysis 13(6), 585-598.
45. Schachter, D.L. (1995). Memory Distortion: How Minds, Brains and Societies Reconstruct the Past. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
46. Snyder, M. (1984). When belief creates reality. In Berkowitz, L. (ed), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 18, 247-305.
47. Snyder, M., and Haugen, J.A. (1994). Why does behavioral confirmation occur? A functional perspective on the role of the perceiver. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1994, 218-246.
48. Spanos, N.P., Burgess, C.A., and Burgess, M.F. (1994). Past-life identities, UFO abductions, and satanic ritual abuse: the social construction of memories. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis XLII(4), 433-446.
49. Trujillo, N. (1993). Interpreting November 22: a critical ethnography of an assassination site. Quarterly Journal of Speech 79(4), 447-466.
50. Whyte, G. (1993). Escalating commitment in individual and group decision making: a prospect theory approach. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 54, 430-455.
51. Wright, T.L., and Arbuthnot, J. (1974). Interpersonal trust, political preference and perception of the Watergate affair. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 1(1), 168-170.
52. Wulff, E. (1987). Paranoiac conspiracy delusions. In Graumann, C.F., and Moscovici, S. (eds), Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy, Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 171-190.
53. Zonis, M., and Joseph, C.M. (1994). Conspiracy thinking in the Middle East. Political Psychology 15(3), 443-459.