Why Do Conspiracies Become Less Credible?

Belief in conspiracy theories can satisfy psychological needs for some people, but understanding the psychology behind these beliefs is crucial. People may be prone to believing in conspiracy theories due to a combination of personality traits and motivations, such as relying on intuition, feeling antagonism, and superiority. The psychology behind conspiracy theories can be characterized as epistemic (understanding one’s environment) and existential (being safe).

Scientific evidence supports the disastrous effects of conspiracy theories, such as the mob that stormed the Capitol. Widespread belief in conspiracy theories is cause for concern, as research links support in such theories to cognitive biases, social influences, emotional maturity, and family dynamics. Understanding these factors is essential for tackling the post-truth society.

Conspiration theories are a by-product of a suite of psychological mechanisms, such as pattern recognition, agency detection, threat management, and alliance detection. Being accepted by others is more important than being factually correct, and this is the key to tackling our post-truth society. A new study with a mostly liberal sample found that people do change their mind about conspiracy beliefs, but not often.

In the age of social media, conspiracy theories are hard to escape, and they are becoming harder to combat. It is easy to dismiss conspiracy theories as unhinged beliefs held by a small number of paranoid idiots, but this underestimates them. Conspiracy theories often incorporate elements from pseudoscience, such as employing scientific terms or referring to data, research, sources, and more.