Few people were eager to apply it to their own positions. Part of the problem is likely to be the vagueness of the term; while we have provided a working definition in the present study, there is no universal agreement on what exactly constitutes a conspiracy theory Coady, Clearly, however, the prevalence of counter-argumentation to the use of the label by others points to some disdain for the term among conspiracists.
There are other possible interpretations for some of these results. For instance, the observed difference in the usage of other conspiracy theories between conspiracist and conventionalist comments could be seen as an issue of rhetorical congruence more than of genuine belief. Indeed, a post-hoc examination of the data revealed that 23 comments mentioned the JFK assassination conspiracy theory favorably, while only nine mentioned it negatively.
Other theories, such as those concerning the moon landing 27 negative, 6 positive , Elvis 21 negative, 0 positive , aliens 20 negative, 2 positive , and David Icke's reptilian shapeshifters 8 negative, 1 positive , showed the opposite pattern. Such people can be very effective in exerting social influence on the majority e. Ideas of rhetorical congruency and self-presentation recall the issue of whether people's persuasive communications are really an accurate reflection of their own thoughts and ideas rather than a carefully calculated attempt to engage with others' biases and reasoning.
Therefore, in debating with those who hold the positions they previously held, they might repeat the arguments that first caused them to doubt the conventional narrative and shaped their subsequent thinking accordingly. On the other hand, the actual content that the discussions centered upon was often highly technical, and many of the arguments were unlikely to have been generated entirely by the people doing the commenting.
With the amount of information to choose from, however, the arguments commenters chose to put forward may still reveal useful information about their own decision-making. While the results of the present study fit with previous work on belief and disbelief in conspiracy theories, some of the novel results found here would benefit from confirmation via other methodological approaches. If conspiracist beliefs are generally structured in the way we posit, it should be observable under experimental conditions—for instance, people with a conspiracist worldview might find a piece of evidence to be more convincing if it is presented as a refutation of the official account of some event rather than as proof of a specific conspiracy theory.
In sum, our results are in agreement with predictions derived from prior research. Conspiracists were less overtly hostile than their conventionalist counterparts, and did not appreciate being called conspiracy theorists.
Perhaps most importantly, however, the finding that conspiracists spend more time arguing against official explanations than for alternative explanations supports the idea that the conspiracy worldview is based more on disbelief than on positive belief.
The coherence of the conspiracist belief system is driven by higher-order considerations such as a disbelief in official narratives, rather than positive beliefs in particular alternative narratives. This result also agrees with previous informal observations by conventionalist commentators, who devote a great deal of time to examining and debunking conspiracy theories.
They imagine that if they can find broadly defined anomalies in that data that would point to another phenomenon at work. They then commit a pair of logical fallacies. First, they confuse unexplained with unexplainable. This leads them to prematurely declare something a true anomaly, without first exhaustively trying to explain it with conventional means.
Second they use the argument from ignorance, saying that because we cannot explain an anomaly that means their specific pet theory must be true.
I don't know what that fuzzy object in the sky is—therefore it is an alien spacecraft Novella, We argue that in fact, anomaly hunting, or a fixation on errant data, is a manifestation of the way conspiracism is structured as a worldview. In general, conspiracy belief is not based around specific theories of how events transpire, though these may exist as well.
Instead, conspiracism is rooted in several higher-order beliefs such as an abiding mistrust of authority, the conviction that nothing is quite as it seems, and the belief that most of what we are told is a lie.
Apparent anomalies in official accounts seem to support this, even if they do not point to a specific, well-defined alternative. For many conspiracists, there are two worlds: one real and mostly unseen, the other a sinister illusion meant to cover up the truth; and evidence against the latter is evidence for the former.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of Daniel Jolley for his help in coding the comment data. Abalakina-Paap, M. Beliefs in conspiracies. CrossRef Full Text. Adorno, T. The Authoritarian Personality. Oxford: Harpers. Barkun, M. Barber, P. The truth is out there. Bartlett, J.
Skeptical Inquirer 35, 43— Bratich, J. Byers, S. Wake up, America! Byford, J. Conspiracy Theories: A Critical Introduction.
London: Palgrave Macmillan. Coady, D. Conspiracy Theories: The Philosophical Debate. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. Clarke, S. Conspiracy theories and the Internet: controlled demolition and arrested development. Episteme 4, — Crane, I. Darwin, H. Belief in conspiracy theories: the role of paranormal belief, paranoid ideation and schizotypy. Dean, J. Douglas, K. Understanding cyberhate: social competition and social creativity in online white supremacist groups. Why I am less persuaded than you: people's intuitive understanding of the psychology of persuasion.
Influence 5, — The hidden impact of conspiracy theories: perceived and actual influence of theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana. Does it take one to know one? Fat, M. Public perception of Tourette Syndrome on YouTube. Child Neurol. Friestad, M. Right wing extremists who want the populace to believe that the US Government is against them, and brought in Jew blaming, as usual, saying that it was a deliberate plot by the American Jews to start war in the Middle East!
It seems to me — when skepticism reinforces orthodoxy, educated people seem to be more skeptical. But the opposite seems to be true, amongst educated people, when skepticism calls into question the accepted orthodoxy.
Skepticism is one thing. Lunacy and ignorance are different matters entirely. The latter are the subjects of this article. But other research has found that anti-vaxxers for example are frequently middle class and educated. There is a risk to being vaccinated though not of autism which is so well accepted that the NHS has a compensation fund in place.
If they did they would most likely find a negative correlation between number of vaccines received and good health. Mercury exits in some vaccines in trace amounts of at most a few milllionths of a gram. You get more mercury into your body from eating a seafood meal. Harmless, and, in particular, the study linking it to autism was expsoed as BS. But the experiment about the relationship between health and vaccines was done before.
Look at infant and child mortality before and after vaccines. In the past children regularly died or were crippled for life from horrible diseases like dyphteria, polio, measels, smallpox, typhus, rabies, and so on.
I am highly educated, but economically impoverished. The cushion of more money is not the reason that a better educated person is less likely to believe in conspiracy theories. To me it is clear that the scenarios typically presented as conspiracies are rooted in magical thinking, immature thinking, scapegoating, feeling powerless not all poor people feel powerless , the need for excitement etc.
Education increases scepticism and analytical thinking. For example the last conspiracy theory I can across was that there is a conspiracy to make the British Royal Family Jewish! That said, you can be educated and still be stupid..
Suppose he entire royal family converted to judaism tomorrow. Apart from the queen no longer being the head of the church, which she is only formally in any case, what difference would it make? I met a woman a while ago who went on about the Illuminati, and she was the most stupid person I had met for years! I think another factor for lovers of conspiracy theories is boredom. It makes life more exciting if you decide that there are secret plots all over the place. There is a childish fascination with it.
Try thinking about the problems facing mankind, overpopulation leads to greater poverty, higher crime, inequalities, discrimination, etc. Humanity has taken over the planet, at the expense of all other species lives, wellbeing, and their habitats.
As populations grow the world becomes an increasingly smaller place, finding green untouched areas is hard in towns and cities, nothing is preserved. We as a race impact on the planet and everything living to its detriment. The medical profession could have been instructed at a high level that vaccines should be compulsory, and without knowing of any intention to harm — not just children, but genetics that transfer down the generations.
This is an internal war to curb our growth. A conspiracy theory? The biggest false truth is the military industrial complex. The U. The reality is that war is business waged purely for profit and power. This is especially true when war is written about. A good example would be the text books most read in the U.
Do those text books tell the real truth about the extermination of the natives of the U. Not even close. They even report that slavery was abolished. It is referred today mostly as Human Trafficking. I could go on listing all the false truths among the human race of amnesiacs. But what good will it do. I understand why people hang onto them. Fear and self-preservation. What you are writing sounds like garbage to me. He would not be afraid of the truth and would try to warn people.
For instance, there is an entire group of very educated and intelligent architects and engineers Architects and Engineers for Truth that believe was an inside job. There are many former CIA, ex-military and other very intelligent folks who also believe in finding the truth.
There is an overwhelming body of evidence regarding many conspiracy theories and they are labeled as such to immediately discredit them.
There is also a powerful emotional component to conspiracy theory beliefs, which helps explain why they can be so difficult to challenge. Studies have also shown believers are also more prone to anxiety and a sense that they lack control — feelings alleviated by subscribing to a conspiracy theory being spread with such apparent conviction by others.
To submit your questions email us at questions sciencefocus. Hardly anyone today believes in all of the literal claims of the original Protocols document.
In many respects, QAnon itself is a modern day rehashing of this same old anti-Semitism. That flexibility and malleability makes it difficult, if not impossible, to defeat a conspiracy theory for good. Almost anything that increases feelings of uncertainty, distrust and confusion can act as a viral vector for a new and mutated infection by conspiratorial thinking. Digital media only exaggerates this feature of conspiracy theories.
This anonymity, coupled with the power of digital media to reach anyone at any time, massively increases the resilience and life-span of conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories in America: Evangelicals need to address the QAnoners in our midst. QAnon is perhaps the paradigmatic example of this. Rather, people feel more and more scared and paranoid, and QAnon provides an outlet. The digital prophet behind QAnon can capitalize off of uncertainty and ignorance to get more and more people to drink the Kool-Aid.
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