A conspiracy theory refers to the belief that two or more people are hiding information important to the public. The subject of any such judgment is momentous events – man’s first flight into space, the Kennedy assassination… And some of them are so popular that some theories are so popular that there are some games at https://cryptocasinos-ca.ca/casinos/betamo/ related to them. These conspiracies often include the idea that a particular faction influenced the development of events. Say, the Freemasons or the Illuminati.
All “conspiracy theorists” have one thing in common – a desire to believe in their concept more than in the objective facts. Let’s talk about the reasons why people are so willing to trust even the most ridiculous explanations of epochal events for society.
Man Has Evolved Through Suspicion
The development of speech has improved our ability to communicate, to seek advice from our neighbors. And also to deceive him. Studies show that the size of the brain has seriously increased over thousands of years of evolution precisely to make it easier for us to deal with verbal information. The purpose of this progress is so that we can detect when someone is deliberately or accidentally deceiving us.
Our perceptual system is constantly tuned to detect details in communication with others. For example, we quickly read the social status of our interlocutor, the features of his facial expressions. Our current evaluation of our interlocutor is built on past experiences, and on the basis of that evaluation we conclude whether or not to trust him.
Such suspicion exists because of its adaptability. When the environment becomes threatening (and it has happened thousands of times in human history), vigilance becomes a particularly important quality. This is why many of us tend to believe in conspiracy theories. After all, heightened suspicion is one of the natural states of human beings.
Special Knowledge Makes Us Special People
Imagine that you recently had to get acquainted with a pleasant girl or guy. You are unlikely to pay attention to a new acquaintance if he or she tells you about the weather or a trip to the country.
But if the interlocutor will give an unusual theory about the reasons for the sinking of the Titanic? Surely you will remember this conversation more than once. So for many people, belief in conspiracy theories is psychological compensation for feeling like a more interesting member of society.
Anxiety and the Desire for Order
There is a direct correlation between anxiety and a love of such theories. One psychological study showed that there is a positive correlation between a tendency to believe in ethnic minority conspiracies and high anxiety. And there is a reasonable correlation. After all, conspiracy theories often contain threatening information.
Anxiety always arises in an uncertain, doubtful environment; anxiety reflects a person’s lack of control over the world. In turn, it prompts a desire to make sense of the situation, to restore order. To do this, people invent vague explanations for the bad things that are happening.
High Sensitivity and Heightened Perception
Most conspiracies involve death, murder, health threats, global warming, alien invasions, disasters, wars, and so on. That is, those people who pay attention to them in principle are very sensitive and attentive to fear-inducing events.
Disillusionment and Distrust of Authority
Almost all conspiracy theorists demonstrate hostility toward authority figures. Life difficulties, lack of an opportunity to improve something generates resentment, and a person indirectly blames the authorities for the appearance of this discomfort.
It’s interesting that biologically Homo Sapiens tends to trust authority. So the emergence of the opposite trait seems a little unusual. Psychologists believe that in the past many conspiracy theorists have suffered from an authority figure – such as a parent, teacher, or employer. And for many of them, the problem wasn’t so much with the presence of authority itself, but with the loss of kindness, of good relationships.
Persecution Mania
A key trait of conspiracy theorists is paranoia. They believe that the threats in their lives are far more dangerous than they really are. Some are convinced that the government is somehow studying the thoughts in their heads. Or the aliens have a special desire to dismember them and study their internal organs.
By the way, sometimes conspiracy theorists suffer from increased jealousy. For example, a man may believe that the girl he likes is married to another because they are both members of the Illuminati sect.
The Victim’s Position
Often conspiracy theorists are those people who do not want to take responsibility for their own lives. They blame everyone else for their troubles, from the government to aliens. But not themselves.
Willingness to Gossip
Such people often join together in groups of like-minded people. Discussing conspiracies together brings them peace of mind. And by communicating in a group, fans of conspiratorial theories establish their own social identity. Which also becomes a source of satisfaction psychologically.
The Desire to Make Oneself Look Like a Hero
Conspiracy theorists’ desire to free the world from slavery should not be confused with sympathy. Ultimately, they too see themselves as hostages of circumstances. But they see other people as too stupid and shallow to share their sophisticated ideas.
And in dialogue, they often take a mentoring position, seeking to warn their interlocutor of all the “dangers.” One is reminded of the Karpman Triangle, where the Victim quickly transforms into the Rescuer (and sometimes into the Stalker). But the essence remains the same.
Those Who Criticize Are Themselves Seen as Conspirators
This is a common trait of all those who believe in all sorts of alien invasions and other crazy concepts. Criticism is certainly worth devaluing. For it, the inner comfort created by conspiratorial theory threatens.
And devaluation occurs in two scenarios. Either the critic is considered too stupid to understand the subtleties of the theory, or he himself participates in this conspiracy, and an alien tentacle is about to emerge from his pressed suit.
