The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories

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The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracism has become a kind of
para-religion. Citing a survey from George
magazine, the author went on to claim that
three-quarters of Americans believe that the
Government is involved in conspiracy. Depending
on your level of venality, that statistic can be
read as either a mass psychosis or a marketing
opportunity. Marin Gegax

• Alexander Brad McKay

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Taco Liberty Bell Hoax
April 1, 1996, Taco Bell takes out a full page ad
in New York Times claiming that they purchased
the Liberty Bell.

• April Fools Joke
• Ad Costs Taco Bell 300,000
• Thousands of people call to angrily protest
• Did it help Taco Bell?
• Sales increase over 1 million in 2 days

• Why this public reaction?

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Human Beings are powered by emotion, not reason

• Emotion and reason are intertwined, but when they
  are in conflict, emotion wins every time.
• Under times of great stress and anxiety, people
  can become borderline delusional.

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Power Knowledge

• The more powerless people feel, the more they
  tend to conceptualize ways to explain the
  complexities of their surroundings. Na'im
  Akbar, Ph.D
• It brings order out of chaos.

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Power Knowledge

• Lower class/undereducated
• Educated and bourgeoisie class (middle)
• The more you know,
• the more you find out you dont know.

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Power Knowledge

• Mrs. Clinton blamed the sex allegations on a "a
  vast right-wing conspiracy" against President
  Bill Clinton.

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Conspiracism in History

• Pastoral to Horticultural Societies about
  10,000 years ago. The emergence of social
  inequality.
• Agricultural Societies up to 5000 years ago.
  Ancient Greece.
• Industrial Societies up to 250 years ago.
  Kings and dictators.
• Postindustrial Societies today. i.e. North
  Korea

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Conspiracism in History

• McCarthyism 1950s

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Collective Consciousness?

• Social currents largely at odds with the
  cultural mainstream.
• Radical counter-cultures or coincidences?

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Conspiracy Theory or Chance Ambiguity?

• African-American Community Tuskegee syphilis
  experiments 1932 1972Human Beings as
  Laboratory Animals
• A survey of African-American church members found
  that 35 believed AIDS was a form of genocide,
  while 30 unsure.
• Many see a parallel.

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Conspiracy Theory or Chance Ambiguity?

• Questions to ask
• Did several unrelated events occur that
  coincidentally pointed to a final event?
• With so many variables in this complex world, is
  it even conceivable that there is a group of
  individuals orchestrating entire events?
• YES

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Conspiracism does exist.

• Why would people do this?
• To provide an outcome in their favor usually a
  means to remain in power.
• To obtain the emotional need for importance and
  see them themselves as prophets (or God-like).
• To leave their mark in history even if its not
  to their credit.

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Psychological Effects

• The Harm
• Can generate a sense of helplessness
• Interpretations can feed the needs or prejudices
  of many people, providing ample support for their
  causes
• i.e. Radical religious groups, endless supply of
  suicide bombers, terrorist ideologies

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Study by Ted Goertzel1

• A survey of 348 residents of southwestern NJ
  showed that most believed that several of a list
  of ten conspiracy theories were at least probably
  true.
• Black Hispanic respondants were more likely to
  believe in conspiracy theories than were white
  respondants.
• There were few significant correlations with
  gender, educational level or occupational
  category.
• The more you know, the more you find out that
  you dont know.

1. Rutgers University Sociology Professor,
Camden, NJ 1992
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Results of study
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Results of study

• Definitely True Probably True Probably
  False Definitely False
• Conspiracy 69 Lone Gunman 14
• 10 22 31 23
• 5 10 25 48
• 3 8 26 54
• 4 6 26 56
• 12 29 25 23
• 9 33 22 20
• 16 39 23 11
• 16 30 30 16
• 7 14 29 41

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Conclusions

• Results show belief in conspiracy theories mainly
  with race, religion and social status.
• Educational level and gender showed no
  significant correlations.
• No end in sight for conspiracism in America
• More research needed to understand this
  phenomenon
• The waning influence of traditional mores and
  myths in modern culture may partially explain the
  growth of Conspiracism. Thomas Adamo

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Conspiracism

• Conspiracy is in the mind of the beholder.