A psychologist explains why people believe conspiracy theories - Business Insider - 0 views
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a personality trait where a person is so "focused on their own interests they will manipulate, deceive, and exploit others to achieve their goals."
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In terms of cognitive processes, people with stronger conspiracy beliefs are more likely to overestimate the likelihood of co-occurring events, to attribute intentionality where it is unlikely to exist, and to have lower levels of analytic thinking.
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But once a person starts inventing a narrative out of thin air, you can see very little critical thinking occurring.
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Lantian et al.'s (2017) research examined the role of a person's 'need for uniqueness' and a belief of conspiracy theories, and found a correlation.
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We argue that people high in need for uniqueness should be more likely than others to endorse conspiracy beliefs because conspiracy theories represent the possession of unconventional and potentially scarce information.
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People who believe in conspiracy theories can feel "special," in a positive sense, because they may feel that they are more informed than others about important social and political events.
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Our findings can also be connected to recent research demonstrating that individual narcissism, or a grandiose idea of the self, is positively related to belief in conspiracy theories.
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Due to these individuals feeling alienated from their peers, they may also turn to conspiracist groups for a sense of belonging and community, or to marginalized subcultures in which conspiracy theories are potentially more rife.
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In this sense, conspiracy theories give a sense of meaning, security and control over an unpredictable and dangerous world.
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The Internet has amplified the abilities of these like-minded people to come together to share and expand on their conspiracy theories.
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Save your breath arguing with people who believe in them, as no amount of facts will dissuade them from their false belief.