SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Science has finally cracked the mystery of why so many people believe in conspiracy theories
When it comes to the spread of cockamamie conspiracy theories, Twitter was a maximum viable product long before Elon Musk paid $44 billion for the keys. But as soon as he took the wheel, Musk removed many of the guardrails Twitter had put in place to keep the craziness in check. Anti-vaxxers used an athlete's collapse during a game to revive claims that COVID-19 vaccines kill people. (They don't.) Freelance journalists spun long threads purporting to show that Twitter secretly supported Democrats in 2020. (It didn't.) Musk himself insinuated that the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband was carried out by a jealous boyfriend. (Nope.) Like a red thread connecting clippings on Twitter's giant whiteboard, conspiratorial ideation spread far and wide.
Social scientists are closing in on some answers. The personality traits known as the "Dark Triad" — that's narcissism, psychopathy, and a tendency to see the world in black-or-white terms — play a part. So do political beliefs, particularly populism and a tolerance for political violence. Cognitive biases, like believing only evidence that confirms what you already think, also make people more vulnerable.
But according to new research, it isn't ignorance that makes people most likely to buy into conspiratorial thinking, or social isolation or mental illness. It's a far more prevalent and pesky personality quirk: overconfidence.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by khallow on Friday January 27, @01:26PM (23 children)
I notice that the first conspiracy presented as a consequence comes from mid 2020 (claiming that some US athlete [forbes.com] was the first to spread covid in China). And given that conspiracy theories are routinely spawned, it would be odd to not have some created over a period of time this long, alleged guardrails or not.
Finally, this seems suspiciously like yet another story about how wrongthink is a medical condition using the research as an excuse for the journalist's own obsessions.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DannyB on Friday January 27, @03:14PM (22 children)
You use the word "wrongthink" to suggest that crazy and dangerous conspiracy theories are actually okay.
Leaving the word "wrongthink" out of it. Maybe being gullible enough to believe outlandish conspiracy theories really is a medical condition. Most people begin to realize the difference between fantasy and reality by late childhood. Maybe for some reason, certain people never make that leap.
Let me just pick ONE of many persons to use as an example.
Things Marjorie Taylor Green has said:
School shootings aren't real.
Nancy Pelosi should be executed.
January 6 was done by BLM.
Sandy Hook was fake.
Jews with Secret Space lasers started the California wild fires.
President Obama is Muslim.
The Clintons killed JFK.
Obama was president on 9/11.
COVID-19 is a hoax.
The Las Vegas shooting was staged.
The Pentagon was not hit by a plane on 9/11.
Plant-based meat is made in a peach tree dish.
White people who voted for Obama are racist.
Nancy Pelosi leads the gazpacho police.
I won't add solar on my house because it doesn't work at night.
I don't mean to use hyperbole here, but maybe she really is crazy? In a medical sense. Isn't that possible?
And she is only one example of the lunacy. Remember . . . people voted for her.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 1, Troll) by khallow on Friday January 27, @07:09PM (18 children)
Conspiracies do happen. Seems a poor idea to automatically pigeonhole such into mental illness. My take is that if you spend more time blathering about the madness of the people with rival beliefs than you do providing evidence, then it doesn't look good for your conspiracy theory.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Tork on Friday January 27, @07:52PM (8 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday January 27, @08:04PM (7 children)
I do think some fictional conspiracy theories are crazy. They don't pass the laugh test.
I also think there is something to the article that some people are prone to accept even the most outlandish implausible conspiracy theory.
And, yes, I do believe that real conspiracies do happen. But those are not what we are talking about here. We're talking about conspiracies such as JFK being killed by the Clintons.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27, @09:29PM (3 children)
I've never heard of a conspiracy theory that the Clintons killed JFK. Are you trying to deflect from the suspiciously high number of suicides and plane crashes amongst people inconvenient to the Clintons?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday January 27, @11:52PM (1 child)
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jun/28/instagram-posts/no-clintons-and-bushes-didnt-help-assassinate-jfk-/ [politifact.com]
Are you sure you're not just projecting the pursuit of your own agenda? 🤡
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, @02:17AM
Oh, JFK Jr. Yeah, it probably was.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, @03:16AM
Sad thing is that I have a number of Q anon folk in my family who believe the Clintons had a hand in the assassination of JFK. Many in their Facebook circle jerk don't even attempt to keep JFK, JFK Jr., RFK, RFK Jr., and a number of other people who happen to have the name Kennedy straight anymore. I've literally seen them switch between them in the same post to connect the dots in their ramblings.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, @09:27PM
Religion is the craziest and deadliest one.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 31, @01:44PM (1 child)
Remember the conspiracy to have us wear face masks to protect against an aerosol transmitted virus?
https://brownstone.org/articles/why-n95-masks-fail-to-stop-spread/ [brownstone.org]
Facts, evidence, critical thinking? Who fucking needs 'em when you can regurgitate misinformation from government's and media?
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 31, @11:35PM
What a succinct description of that link you provided. A group formed to oppose mask mandates looks for every reason to call mask bad out of context. News at 11.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DannyB on Friday January 27, @08:01PM (5 children)
You are going down the wrong track. I am not blathering about the madness of the crazy people.
It is the crazy people who are, well, crazy.
Yes, I absolutely agree with what you said here: Conspiracies DO happen.
Yes indeed, they do!
But there is a difference between a real conspiracy, which I think is rare, and these outlandishly crazy conspiracy theories that wouldn't even make a good plot for a prime time television story. I provided you a list of some that were said by only one single individual. More are available. Did any of those I provided even pass the laugh test?
It's not that conspiracies don't happen. Show me one that even sounds credible, and I would certainly not dismiss it out of hand.
Does the 2020 stolen election conspiracy theory even sound remotely plausible? That there was massive fraud at a substantial number of polling places, and somehow we know about this conspiracy, yet not one shred of evidence can be found? No, not one actual witness who could be produced in court in 61 lawsuits. Not one deposition. Not any facts. Not a single witness to serious discrepancies in results.
That is but one example.
Is there ANY credible evidence that Secret Jewish Space Lasers started the California wild fires?
Or Trump's statement that COVID-19 is a Chinese hoax. Is it, really? You mean all of the scientific evidence is actually a hoax? Nobody actually developed a vaccine? And I got five placebo vaccinations? Or, heaven forbid, I got five injections or microchips -- OMG!
Do you even see how ridiculous this sounds?
Yes, conspiracies do happen. But adults should be able to distinguish fantasy from reality. That is my point.
I think there is actually something to the article that some people with some kind of mental defect (not in a perjorative way) are unable to recognize obvious hoaxes perpetrated upon them?
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27, @10:20PM (2 children)
The reason so many people believe in conspiracies is that self interested behaviour often looks like one.
For an American example, why is your healthcare system so shitty?
1/ It is in the corporate owners interest that health insurance is tied to employment. It makes it hard for the workers to negotiate a better deal and ties them to their jobs. The owners don't need to conspire if they are all heading in the same direction anyway.
2/ Health insurance companies like it. It's easier to wine and dine a couple of corporate executives than to attract and keep millions of customers who can switch to another insurance company when you act like a dick. They don't need to conspire, they all know this.
3/ The ruling class has excellent healthcare. They don't see a reason to mess with a system that works for them
Universal healthcare is cheaper and has far better average outcomes. It's individual actors benefiting themselves that keeps it from being implemented, but it sure looks like a conspiracy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, @04:36AM
industry best practice
bagets
cartel behaviour
bagets
conspiracy
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday January 28, @05:46AM
I think of the healthscare system as a passive conspiracy. Kind of like any monopoly or any of the too many systems in our economy where everyone along the way has latched onto the big flow of money. Healthcare providers keep saying "we have to raise our prices because reasons" and their suppliers say the same and it's a vicious cycle.
I think part of the problem with fixing it, is, well, considering the system as a whole, it's kind of a monopoly. Who wants to go up against the very thing they may critically need someday?
It's too depressing to think about, let alone write about. I wish I knew what to do to help fix it, other than run for office.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Monday January 30, @06:02PM (1 child)
Yep, here's one for ya!
Four Oath Keepers Found Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy Related to U.S. Capitol Breach [justice.gov]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday January 30, @07:01PM
Bu, bu, but . . . so many ACs here said that nobody was being convicted for sedition. So how could they be the treasonous traitors that they so obviously are? Especially when they bragged about this and planned it BEFORE it happened. Then they realized just how seriously bad this looked once they had done it. Ineptly done it.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Monday January 30, @04:57PM (1 child)
Demanding that others provide evidence to prove that Jewish Space Lasers DID NOT start the wildfires is some bad faith bullshit.
How about you follow the scientific method and provide some evidence FOR those claims, instead.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday January 30, @07:00PM
No, in your case, I demand a 700 page report detailing your lack of evidence for Jewish Space Lasers! WITH FOOTNOTES! And don't try to inflate the page count with "This page intentionally left blank". I'm on to those Jewish tricks!
Not my claims and not what my post said either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 02, @05:19PM
One of the bigger conspiracies is the cis-gendered conspiracy. There is no such thing as "cisgender." Gender seems to be objective but too fuzzy to suggest there's such a thing as "cisgender," but nonetheless cis-gendered people attempt over and over again to construct such a thing. Personally I think the best attempts involve the menstrual one-drop rule, but the whole thing is silly the minute you start grandfathering in people who were merely assigned female at birth but do not pass the menstrual one-drop rule. There is also this gender nihilist crap you get out of certain "woke" sections of petty bourgeois, from the standpoint that attempting to identify brain sex would imply a search for a "cooking and cleaning" brain region that white women would supposedly have, if we do not all get in line with gender nihilism. Gender may be complex, but it is not unknowable. There aren't a lot of guys who are ready to drop thousands of dollars to get their balls chopped off, but there are guys who wear packers ready to drop tens of thousands of dollars for a constructed penis.
The cis-gendered conspiracy is something like the white conspiracy. There is no such thing as "race." There's not even a related objective concept here. It's just a bunch of assholes woke up one day and started sexually identifying as white, before slaughtering and enslaving entire continents. Nobody can define whiteness, but it seems that one also must sexually identify as "cisgender" to be white. So in order to be Tudor "Zombie" Dixon, or Baby-Face Meloni, one needs to both sexually identify as white and "cisgender."
But I am also irritated at some more insensitive microaggressions I received from one of these "cisgender" women. She was one of those brilliant jerk surgeons but seemed convinced that I would regret having my mutant ovaries removed, because I would be unable to give a white, cis-gendered woman white babies, making me an incel. The medical benefits such as pain res and immunity buffs from estrogen are well-documented by the feminists, so I don't know what I would need testosterone for. There seems to be some kind of pink yakuza, which would imply a feminist conspiracy, but perhaps there is no feminist conspiracy, and my observations can be adequately explained by a white "cisgender" conspiracy that subordinates all of society, even one's own reproductive choices, to the need for never ending imperialist war that now threatens the cataclysmic destruction of every major city, worldwide nuclear winter famine, and post-atomic horror.
28±4 seconds to midnight. unless
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday January 27, @07:55PM (1 child)
If "crazy", then how? You gotta wonder
Also, don't forget her perception of electricity, or galley slaves, or air travel [youtu.be] ... at least I think that's what this bit is about.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, @01:33AM
DING! DING! DING!
I think we have a winner here! I suspect Marjorie Taylor Green knows that most (or perhaps even all) of her conspiracy theories are totally nuts, but she doesn't care. Getting her base riled up and super angry are really what is important to her. It brings people out to vote for her. Now, why those who vote for her apparently can't plainly see how they are being duped is much more of a mystery to me. What they get out of it is something I don't understand. Maybe they feel some sort of validation? Is sticking it to the libs really so important to them that getting self-pwned is considered acceptable collateral damage? I am genuinely stumped by this!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, @09:19AM
Hey! MJG has the same list of cray-cray that khallow does! With a few notable exceptions so we do not think he is completely batshit crazy, like the Runaway sans Phallus.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday January 27, @03:15PM
But, I heard that SoylentGreen was trying to EEE SoylentNews.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Taxi Dudinous on Friday January 27, @05:01PM (5 children)
The Dark Side of Dunning Kruger.
Conspiracy Theories are also a bit like Social Network Gambling. The odds go up as the theory gets more far fetched. People open their mouths to cast their bets. There are feelings of self importance and mild exhilaration that come with thinking one is knowledgeable and privy to groundbreaking or classified information. There is a reward if a person is eventually proven right. The downside is minimized by latching onto denial of any contradictory data. Win Win. Or more like Win, Ignore Loss
I wonder if gambling addiction correlates with propensity to engage in that behaviour?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday January 27, @06:21PM (2 children)
My favorite is when people pick a conspiracy, it plays out like they 'predicted', and act like they somehow had some foreknowledge that noone else had.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 04, @12:14AM (1 child)
If you understand human nature, then you are indeed armed with foreknowledge. That doesn't negate your statement, of course - most people pretend that they know something no one else does. That's how fortune tellers make a living, as well as Wall Street investment advisors.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday February 04, @12:25AM
You can fool yourself with self-assessment and by hanging around echo-chambers, but you're still just guessing ... or hoping for it to be true.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday January 27, @07:56PM (1 child)
I guess the odder the goods, the gooder the odds.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RS3 on Friday January 27, @09:35PM
Much like gambling on horse racing- the greater the odds ratio, the greater the win payoff.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27, @11:04PM
It was answered a very long time ago. Your "conspiracy theories" emerge from a lack of truthful information from trustworthy sources. So people invent shit, usually with a profit motive. The government uses misinformation for crowd control, to start wars, etc.. And what better conspiracy theories do we have than those of your major religions? What is the difference between sky lizards and 5G transmitting vaccines?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday January 28, @01:18AM (1 child)
Fundamental premise of the paper "Many people believe in conspiracy theories" is a conspiracy theory. I do not believe that.
So. The paper creates a conspiracy theory about conspiracy theories as a problem and then resolves conspiratorial thinking using... conspiratorial thinking.
There are no conspiracies over here. There is no need to theorize about them. Move along.
The authors seem overconfident about their confusing research. Maybe, too much social isolation or mental illness?
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, @04:39AM
academic pay per publish is its own kind of madness.
I also was unsure how overconfidence is different from ignorance.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Gaaark on Saturday January 28, @03:09PM
I think it's more a lack of being able to think critically and being able to think for yourself: it you can't think without someone else 'guiding' you, and can't think with logic and suspicion, you're apt to believe anything a 'leader/influencer' puts in front of you.
In other words, yes: being 'ignorant' is a problem here.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, @07:11PM (5 children)
Could be that their brains are totally decimated, which I have learned on the Front Page means "annihlated". Of course, if anyone knew Latin, it's right there in the words "deci" and "nihil", just like the month is called December because it is the tenth month.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 29, @12:11AM (1 child)
I'm gonna blow your mind here, but Sept-ember is called that because it is the seventh month and Octo-ber is called that because it is the eighth month.
Still working on Nov-ember, it being "new" doesn't fit, but I've got my red string.
(Score: 3, Informative) by cmdrklarg on Monday January 30, @09:22PM
You can thank the Romans for that silliness, specifically Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus (July and August respectively).
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Sunday January 29, @10:04PM
Death and Taxes go hand in hand: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-03/decimate-does-not-mean-to-kill-one-in-every-10/11459980 [abc.net.au]
compiling...
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday January 30, @06:06PM
Uh huh, very witty, so which 10% of your brain are you willing to part with?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30, @11:01PM
Daily proper decimation of one's brain will cause a fall to 5% of brain function after just 1 month that is not February.
(Score: 2, Touché) by pTamok on Sunday January 29, @02:14PM
I am 110%, no 120% sure that I am not overconfident.
(Score: 4, Informative) by cmdrklarg on Monday January 30, @09:34PM (1 child)
Because they are fucking stupid. This is not by accident either.
Kept uneducated and ignorant, just the way their puppet masters like them. Keep them all wound up with FUD so they can't possibly make an informed decision, as that would be terrible for the ones pushing their buttons.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03, @11:30PM
That certainly sounds like a conspiracy theory.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 04, @12:08AM
What nonsense. Twitter participated in conspiracies galore. Twitter still harbors child groomers, and Twitter happily hosts groups that hate white people. Twitter was infested with woke progressives, and Elon hasn't weeded them out yet. There are no guardrails at Twitter, nor do I expect Musk to install any.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.