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+ {"source_url": "https://www.marinij.com", "url": "https://www.marinij.com/2019/12/30/marin-voice-what-is-the-psychology-behind-conspiracy-theories/", "title": "Marin Voice: What is the psychology behind conspiracy theories?", "top_image": "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Trump_08255-1-1.jpg?w=1024&h=683", "meta_img": "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Trump_08255-1-1.jpg?w=1024&h=683", "images": ["https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/?s=85&d=mm&r=g", "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Trump_08255-1-1.jpg?w=1024&h=683", "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MarinIndependentJournal.svg", "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/jetpack/modules/sharedaddy/images/loading.gif"], "movies": [], "text": "How do you feel when someone expresses a belief that you think is absolutely crazy? Like the idea that Barack Obama is not an American citizen or the \u201cdeep state\u201d is out to get the president or that 9/11 was an inside job or the moon landing was faked?\n\nToday, with Donald Trump spouting lies, distortions and disinformation on a daily basis, conspiracy theories (CT) have forced their way into our social consciousness.\n\nAccording to Business Insider magazine, Trump has voiced \u2014 or tweeted \u2014 some 24 different conspiracy theories. His latest conspiracy about Ukraine represented his chief defense against impeachment. As citizens, we need to make sense of these messages and be able to identify what is true, what is false and \u2014 equally important \u2014 what is undetermined.\n\nWe are indeed living in an age of alternative facts where the line between fact and fiction has become muddied. Questions about conspiracies beg to be answered. What qualifies as a conspiracy? Is it pathological to buy into a conspiracy theory? Why do some embrace conspiracies while others reject them?\n\nRecent research can help explain the science behind conspiracy theories. A leading expert is Jan-Willem van Prooijen, a professor of social and organizational psychology at the University of Amsterdam. His book, The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories (Routledge, 2018) offers some answers.\n\nWhat defines a conspiracy theory? A belief that a number of actors join together in secret agreement, in order to achieve a hidden goal that is perceived to be unlawful or malevolent. Van Prooijen lists five criteria required for a BELIEF to qualify as a CONSPIRACY THEORY:\n\nPatterns: A CT must attempt to explain non-random connections between actions, objects and people.\n\nAgency: A CT assumes that the suspect event was caused on purpose by intelligent actors.\n\nCoalitions: A CT always involves a coalition or group of multiple actors.\n\nHostility: A CT tends to assume the suspected coalition is pursuing goals that are evil, selfish or not in the public interest.\n\nContinued secrecy: The CT has not yet been exposed by hard evidence and so remains secret and unproven.\n\nWhat is the key psychological driver underlying conspiracy theories? Safety \u2014 or lack thereof. Feeling safe is a fundamental human need. Unpredictable or extreme social conditions (mass shootings, natural disasters, climate change, income inequality, changing demographics, disease epidemics, political discord) make people feel less safe and therefore, less in control. When safety is threatened, people process information differently. Several studies have established a link between the strength of distressing feelings and belief in conspiracies.\n\nSecondly, some people are quick to embrace a faulty belief to gain a sense of control over their underlying fears and anxieties. A fixed belief can serve this purpose whether it is true or false. Studies also suggest they are more likely to be intuitive rather than rational thinkers. Unfortunately, this tendency comes at the expense of critical thinking because the emotional brain overrides the rational brain. But this is most likely outside of their awareness.\n\nThird, when an individual is under stress or in crisis, their cognitive field tends to narrow and their focus becomes externalized. Rather than exploring inner fears and anxieties, they look outside themselves for easy answers. And they can easily find them on the internet.\n\nFourth, people tend to fear the worst in situations that cause them anxiety. This is often expressed through anger and projected onto \u201coutgroups\u201d such as immigrants and minorities. This represents the hostility element that is central to conspiracy theories.\n\nTwo other cognitive processes are fundamental to conspiracy theories: pattern perception and agency detection. Pattern perception is the tendency of people to \u201cconnect the dots\u201d by creating causal links between people, objects and events. The rush to embrace faulty beliefs limits their ability to see that events are often random rather than related.\n\nFinally, agency detection refers to our tendency to perceive intentionality in the actions of others. However, people commonly mistake others\u2019 motives, especially if they are perceived to be different. This signifies yet another element of conspiracy thinking: thinking that other people are acting with malevolent intentions.\n\nPatrick Gannon is a clinical and performance psychologist in private practice in San Francisco and San Rafael", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": ["Marin Voice", "Donald Trump", "newsletter"], "authors": ["Patrick Gannon"], "publish_date": "Mon Dec 30 00:00:00 2019", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/cropped-MIJ2_SI-1.png?w=32", "meta_data": {"application-name": "marinindependentjournal", "viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1", "msvalidate.01": "4B535F7EB2971D1FCBA5D1D3E3E292C3", "generator": "WordPress 5.3.2", "wp-parsely_version": "1.14", "og": {"type": "article", "title": "Marin Voice: What is the psychology behind conspiracy theories?", "url": "https://www.marinij.com/2019/12/30/marin-voice-what-is-the-psychology-behind-conspiracy-theories/", "description": "How do you feel when someone expresses a belief that you think is absolutely crazy? Like the idea that Barack Obama is not an American citizen or the \u201cdeep state\u201d is out to get the president or tha\u2026", "site_name": "Marin Independent Journal", "image": {"identifier": "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Trump_08255-1-1.jpg?w=1024&h=683", "width": 1024, "height": 683}, "locale": "en_US"}, "article": {"published_time": "2019-12-30T19:15:26+00:00", "modified_time": "2019-12-26T16:36:44+00:00"}, "twitter": {"text": {"title": "Marin Voice: What is the psychology behind conspiracy theories?"}, "image": "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Trump_08255-1-1.jpg?w=640", "card": "summary_large_image"}, "msapplication-TileImage": "https://www.marinij.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/cropped-MIJ2_SI-1.png?w=270"}, "canonical_link": "https://www.marinij.com/2019/12/30/marin-voice-what-is-the-psychology-behind-conspiracy-theories/"}