Why do some individuals embrace conspiracy theories?

by | Jun 7, 2014 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Conspiracy theories “explain” important events in ways that most individuals reject. For instance, conspiracy theories say that the U. S. faked its moon landings, that a big conspiracy was involved in the assassination of John Kennedy, that the 9/11 attacks were staged by the U.S. government, that Princess Diana’s death was the result of a criminal conspiracy, and that Aussie Prime Minister Harold Holt (who went swimming in the ocean one day and never came back) was snatched and kept by the Chinese. For more conspiracy theories, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conspiracy_theories.

Conspiracy theories have something in common with delusions and with religious beliefs: the lack of convincing evidence in their support. What leads individuals to believe them? Here are several psychological principles that apply: Individuals who believe in conspiracies tend to

1. have low trust in others, especially elites and government officials;

2. reject chance and random occurrences as causing important events;

3. feel anxious about not having control over important events and feel less anxious if they can identify an understandable cause of the events;

4. see themselves as being smarter than others who don’t believe the theories;

5. become biased in the sense of ignoring countervailing evidence and opinion and attending to confirming evidence and opinion;

6. associate with others who share the beliefs and who provide social support in general and specifically with regard to these beliefs.

Another factor that fuels conspiracy theories is that governments and members of the elite do sometimes conspire to enrich themselves through corrupt acts, to fool the public into supporting some action such as going to war, to gain some advantage over supposed enemies, to suppress disclosure of information that would be embarrassing, or to harm a political opponent. Also, conspiracy theories often have some evidence in support of them — the evidence might be twisted or misinterpreted, but it is enough to convince someone who is inclined to see conspiracies.

Does believing in conspiracies cause any harm? Not necessarily. The beliefs likely reduce anxiety in individuals who hold them. As long a person does not overly focus on a conspiracy theory and does not take criminal actions based on the theory, the person may suffer no substantial harm. The person might feel increasingly alienated from a society that does not collectively believe in the conspiracy theory; on the other hand, the person might feel superior to the mass of humanity.

Individuals who incorrectly believe there are conspiracies operating against them at a personal level are different — they have a significant psychological disorder involving paranoia.

In what conspiracy theories do you believe? Do you ever look for disconfirming evidence for your beliefs? You might not know this:  searching for evidence that disconfirms one’s beliefs is the daily work of good scientists, philosophers, journalists, etc.

John Malouff, PhD, JD, Assoc Prof of Psychology

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *