First at Slate, an efficient recounting of the psychological reasons behind the attraction to conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n
John Ehrenreich: Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories<\/a>, subtitled “They\u2019re not stupid.”<\/p>\n Long quote with links to references left intact:<\/p>\n \nWhat does predict belief in conspiracy theories? A cocktail of personality traits. Those who believe these theories typically show high levels of anxiety independent of<\/a> external sources of stress, a high need for control<\/a> over environment, and a high need for subjective certainty<\/a> and, conversely, a low tolerance for ambiguity. They tend to have negative attitudes to authority, to feel alienated<\/a> from the political system, and to see the modern world as unintelligible.<\/a> Conspiracy theory believers are often suspicious<\/a> and untrusting<\/a>, and see others as plotting against them<\/a>. They struggle with anger, resentment, and other hostile feelings as well as with fear. They have lower self-esteem<\/a> than nonbelievers and have a need for external validation to maintain their self-esteem. They may have a strong desire to feel unique and special, and an exaggerated need to be in an exclusive in-group. Belief in conspiracy theories often also goes along with belief in paranormal phenomena<\/a>, skepticism of scientific knowledge, and weaknesses in analytic thinking<\/a>. Proneness to belief in conspiracy theories is also associated with religiosity<\/a>, especially with people for whom a religious worldview is especially important<\/a>. These traits are hardly universal among or exclusive to conspiracy theorists, but they help create a vulnerability to belief<\/a>.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The articles goes on to discuss the psychological biases everyone is prone to: motivated reasoning, fundamental attribution error, confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance. And how Trump and other conservatives foster mistrust of instituions, including of mainstream mass media, and scientists.<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Second, a long piece by Joe Forrest, on his “Progressive Christian’s Blog”:<\/p>\n Why Your Christian Friends and Family Members Are So Easily Fooled by Conspiracy Theories<\/a>.<\/p>\n TLDR, but scanning it reveals (of course) many of the same points, with longer examples:<\/p>\n And then a section about “The Christian Problem” and then an: “Addendum: How to Not Be Fooled by a Conspiracy Theory.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" First at Slate, an efficient recounting of the psychological reasons behind the attraction to conspiracy theories. John Ehrenreich: Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories, subtitled “They\u2019re not stupid.” Long quote with links to references left intact: What does predict belief … Continue reading \n