Conspiracy theories a cognitive problem/error?

[Peter1469]

I'm snipping a relevant part of midcan's quoted text because it fits our current situation in the US.



This small portion of the quoted text is EXACTLY what is behind today's conspiracy theory that there is systemic racism in law enforcement.

Thank you, midcan, for posting that.

[Adelaide]

I wish you would have linked to the actual study, which is here, rather than a poorly written piece that doesn't accurately represent the conclusions of the researchers.

The study doesn't assert that "all conspiracy theorists are crazy," in fact, it states up-front that what may be viewed as a conspiracy theory might actually be true. And, when they fed the participants "fake" news, they based some of it on actual happenings, such as widespread NSA surveillance.

That said, it is an interesting field of study, because people can be manipulated, especially if they want to believe in a specific thing. Look at what happened to all the people who wanted to believe the tale Jussie Smollet told, even though logically the evidence didn't match up with the story from the get-go. The same type of conspiracy is currently occurring (same people, actually) with the belief that racism is systemic in law enforcement. The believers have been manipulated into a state of frenzy, so we can see conspiracy theories can be dangerous if allowed to persist. In some cases.

The actual study also took a belief in the supernatural into account, and in doing so, roped in the vast majority of humans who have any sort of religious or spiritual beliefs. I'm not sure it's a cognitive problem rather than a way of resolving and explaining events and occurrences. I don't think the study does justice to the human mind, which for thousands of years has sought explanations and then subsequently rejected those explanations when more information became apparent. It's a process of trial and error. But, that's not necessarily bad.

... I said it was nice that this approached it from an angle of viewing the world differently instead of just saying they're all crazy.

Geeze...

[FindersKeepers]

... I said it was nice that this approached it from an angle of viewing the world differently instead of just saying they're all crazy.

Geeze...

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree that your link was "nice."

[carolina73]

The term conspiracy theory is nothing more than CIA propaganda. Powerful people have historically done horrible things throughout history. The ones who blindly trust government and authority are the ones with psychological issues. Now obviously, not every so called conspiracy theory is created equal. Some are ridiculous. The power structure intentionally conflates legitimate ones with absurd ones as a means to discredit them all.

I agree. Conspiracy Theories are easy to believe because they are consistent with the normal behavior of the group that they are trying to apply the story to.

If I hear a liberal, lies, cheats, destroys... then I am likely to believe it before I see evidence. The evidence they then provide is generally a lie or cheat.

I think of Obama's BC. Why was it so easy to believe? Because Pelosi had a duty to verify that Obama met the requirement to be President. She did with McCain but skipped Obama. Obama then hid it for I think some 7 years. We were even told at one point that it was burned in a fire.
Who created the Obama BC conspiracy? It was Obama himself.
Do people still believe it = yes. Because it took him 7 years for it to rise out of the ashes.
If it were not a requirement that Pelosi and Obama had not ignored then the conspiracy would never have started or would have died quickly.