{"id":136851,"date":"2021-02-03T08:12:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T16:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=136851"},"modified":"2021-02-03T08:15:32","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T16:15:32","slug":"why-do-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=136851","title":{"rendered":"Why Do People Believe In Conspiracy Theories?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Edsall writes for the New York Times<\/a>:<\/p>\n

* \u201cpeople are attracted to conspiracy theories when important psychological needs are not being met.\u201d She identified three such needs: \u201cthe need for knowledge and certainty\u201d; the \u201cexistential need\u201d to \u201cto feel safe and secure\u201d when \u201cpowerless and scared\u201d; and, among those high in narcissism, the \u201cneed to feel unique compared to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Conspiracy theories seduce not so much through the power of argument, but through the intensity of the passions that they stir. Underpinning conspiracy theories are feelings of resentment, indignation and disenchantment about the world. They are stories about good and evil, as much as about what is true.<\/p>\n

* the Trump movement can be seen as populist, meaning that this movement espouses a worldview that sees society as a struggle between \u2018the corrupt elites\u2019 versus the people. This in and of itself predisposes people to conspiracy thinking. But there are also other factors. For instance, the Trump movement appears heavily fear-based, is highly nationalistic, and endorses relatively simple solutions for complex problems. All of these factors are known to feed into conspiracy thinking.<\/p>\n

* Conspiracy theories are essentially alarm systems and coping mechanisms to help deal with foreign threat and domestic power centers. Thus, they tend to resonate when groups are suffering from loss, weakness or disunity.<\/p>\n

* People are more likely to endorse conspiracy theories that make their political rivals look bad when they are on the losing side of politics than when they are on the winning side, regardless of ideology\/partisanship.<\/p>\n

* Throughout his presidency, Miller wrote, former President Trump pretty much governed as a \u201closer.\u201d He continued to insist that he would\u2019ve won the popular vote in 2016 had it not been for widespread election fraud. So it\u2019s not surprising, given Trump\u2019s rhetoric, that Republicans during the Trump presidency were more likely to endorse conspiracy theories than we\u2019d have expected them to, given that they were on the winning side.<\/p>\n

* QAnon followers are, in a sense, extremists both politically (e.g., wanting to overthrow the U.S. government) and psychologically (e.g., exhibiting many antisocial personality traits).<\/p>\n

* As polarization increases, tensions between political parties and other groups rise, and people are more willing to construct and believe in fantastical ideas that either malign out-groups (e.g., \u201cDemocrats are Satan-worshipping pedophiles\u201d) or bolster the in-group (e.g., \u2018we only lost because you cheated\u2019). Conspiracy theories, in turn, raise the temperature of polarization and make it more difficult for people from different partisan and ideological camps to have fact-based discussions about political matters, even those that are in critical need of immediate attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Edsall writes for the New York Times: * \u201cpeople are attracted to conspiracy theories when important psychological needs are not being met.\u201d She identified three such needs: \u201cthe need for knowledge and certainty\u201d; the \u201cexistential need\u201d to \u201cto feel … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9619],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conspiracy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t