Przeniesienie psychologiczne: Najpotężniejsza, powszechnie nieznana siła na świecie 
[Psychological transference: The most powerful, generally unknown force in the world]

Paul R. Nail* (Department of Psychology and Counseling, 
University of Central Arkansas, Conway, USA)


Evidence that negative maternal transference is at the root of Americans' beliefs 
in 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Psychological transference occurs when one generalizes perceptions or feelings that 
originate from one or more persons usually in childhood, the source, onto one or more 
other persons or entities, the target - those perceived as similar to, or symbolic of, 
the source. The authors propose a mediational model in which (a) negative attitudes 
towards parents lead to (b) negative attitudes toward authority figures, in general, 
which lead to (c) beliefs consistent with 9/11 conspiracy theories. The model was 
tested with a sample of American college students (n = 86). Multiple regression 
analyses examining the hypothesized indirect effect of (b) above with bootstrapping 
(e.g., Mallinckrodt et al., 2006) supported the model - but only concerning students' 
attitudes towards their mother or mother figure growing up. Variables not associated 
with 9/11 conspiracy beliefs were: attitudes toward dad, attitudes toward mom and dad, 
political party affiliation, political liberalism/conservatism, and broken vs. intact 
families. Negative maternal transference appears to be a viable yet under-recognized 
explanation for beliefs in conspiracy theories. Discussion concludes with the 
possibility that Hitler's transference from his mother and father onto Germany and 
Austria, respectively, may have been the foundation for his twisted motives in 
starting World War II.    

*Joint work with: Corey L. Cobb and Carley E. Owen, University of Central Arkansas, USA