Why Do Some Believe Conspiracy Theorists To Be Insane?

People are prone to believing in conspiracy theories due to a combination of personality traits and motivations, including relying on intuition, feeling antagonism and superiority towards others, and perceiving threats in their environment. The reasons for believing in conspiracy theories can be grouped into three categories: the desire for understanding and certainty, baseless theories that threaten our safety and democracy, and specific emotions making people prone to such thinking.

Conspiration theories have been a constant hum in the background for at least the past 100 years, with the most recent example being the misinformation that spurred the mob that stormed the Capitol. Cognitive biases, social influences, emotional maturity, and family dynamics can contribute to an individual’s belief in conspiracy theories. “Confirmation bias” is the most pervasive cognitive bias and a powerful driver of belief in conspiracies.

The widespread belief in conspiracy theories is cause for concern, as research links support in such theories to a variety of factors. While conspiracy theorists may not be unusual, their beliefs have been examined mostly in Westernized, educated, and Westernized societies. It is easy to dismiss conspiracy theories as unhinged beliefs held by a small number of paranoid idiots, but this underestimates them.

Belief in conspiracy theories is not growing, but rather, people build political coalitions around them. Analytical thinking can help discern implausible theories from ones that, while crazy, are supported by evidence.