44 Facts About Conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theories theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.

Conspiracy theories resist falsification and are reinforced by circular reasoning: both evidence against the conspiracy and an absence of evidence for it are re-interpreted as evidence of its truth, whereby the conspiracy becomes a matter of faith rather than something that can be proven or disproven.

Psychologists usually attribute belief in conspiracy theories and finding a conspiracy where there is none to a number of psychopathological conditions such as paranoia, schizotypy, narcissism, and insecure attachment, or to a form of cognitive bias called "illusory pattern perception".

Conspiracy theories are a significant obstacle to improvements in public health, encouraging opposition to vaccination and water fluoridation among others, and have been linked to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Conspiracy theories used it to refer to claims that British aristocrats were intentionally weakening the United States during the American Civil War in order to advance their financial interests.

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Conspiracy theories theory is not simply about a conspiracy, which refers to any covert plan involving two or more people.

In contrast, conspiracy theories suggest that conspiracies are unrealistically successful and that groups of conspirators, such as bureaucracies, can act with near-perfect competence and secrecy.

Malevolent intent assumed by most conspiracy theories goes far beyond everyday plots borne out of self-interest, corruption, cruelty, and criminality.

Conspiracy theories are often commonly believed, some even being held by the majority of the population.

Conspiracy theories are widely present on the Web in the form of blogs and YouTube videos, as well as on social media.

Whether the Web has increased the prevalence of conspiracy theories or not is an open research question.

Belief in conspiracy theories is generally based not on evidence, but in the faith of the believer.

Belief in conspiracy theories is associated with biases in reasoning, such as the conjunction fallacy.

Conspiracy theories are most successful when proponents can gather followers from the general public, such as in politics, religion and journalism.

Conspiracy theories typically justify themselves by focusing on gaps or ambiguities in knowledge, and then arguing that the true explanation for this must be a conspiracy.

For example, conspiracy theories are often dependent on eyewitness testimony, despite its unreliability, while disregarding objective analyses of the evidence.

Conspiracy theories are not able to be falsified and are reinforced by fallacious arguments.

The epistemic strategy of conspiracy theories has been called "cascade logic": each time new evidence becomes available, a conspiracy theory is able to dismiss it by claiming that even more people must be part of the cover-up.

Typical approach of conspiracy theories is to challenge any action or statement from authorities, using even the most tenuous justifications.

Conspiracy theories are a significant obstacle to improvements in public health.

People who believe in health-related conspiracy theories are less likely to follow medical advice, and more likely to use alternative medicine instead.

Conspiracy theories are most likely to inspire violence when they call for urgent action, appeal to prejudices, or demonize and scapegoat enemies.

Conspiracy theories can divert attention from important social, political, and scientific issues.

Primary defense against conspiracy theories is to maintain an open society, in which many sources of reliable information are available, and government sources are known to be credible rather than propaganda.

Widespread belief in conspiracy theories has become a topic of interest for sociologists, psychologists, and experts in folklore since at least the 1960s, when a number of conspiracy theories arose regarding the assassination of U S President John F Kennedy.

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Conspiracy theories suggests that one of the most important characteristics of these accounts is their attempt to unveil the "real but hidden" power relations in social groups.

The propensity to believe in conspiracy theories is strongly associated with the mental health disorder of schizotypy.

Conspiracy theories often make use of complicated and detailed arguments, including ones which appear to be analytical or scientific.

One of the most widely confirmed facts about conspiracy theories is that belief in a single conspiracy theory tends to promote belief in other unrelated conspiracy theories as well.

Some psychological scientists assert that explanations related to conspiracy theories can be, and often are "internally consistent" with strong beliefs that had previously been held prior to the event that sparked the conspiracy.

People who believe in conspiracy theories tend to believe in other unsubstantiated claims – including pseudoscience and paranormal phenomena.

Psychological motives for believing in conspiracy theories can be categorized as epistemic, existential, or social.

For example, while conspiratorial beliefs can result from a perceived sense of powerlessness, exposure to conspiracy theories immediately suppresses personal feelings of autonomy and control.

The most consistently demonstrated characteristics of people who find conspiracy theories appealing are a feeling of alienation, unhappiness or dissatisfaction with their situation, an unconventional worldview, and a feeling of disempowerment.

People formulate conspiracy theories to explain, for example, power relations in social groups and the perceived existence of evil forces.

Belief in conspiracy theories is correlated with low intelligence, lower analytical thinking, anxiety disorders, paranoia, and authoritarian beliefs.

Conspiracy theories cites philosopher Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski and her book Virtues of the Mind in outlining intellectual virtues and intellectual vices .

Whereas intellectual virtues help in reaching sound examination, intellectual vices "impede effective and responsible inquiry", meaning that those who are prone to believing in conspiracy theories possess certain vices while lacking necessary virtues.

Some researchers have suggested that conspiracy theories could be partially caused by psychological mechanisms the human brain possesses for detecting dangerous coalitions.

Such theories tend to get more traction among election losers in society, for example, and the emphasis of conspiracy theories by elites and leaders tends to increase belief among followers who have higher levels of conspiracy thinking.

Justin Fox of Time magazine argues that Wall Street traders are among the most conspiracy-minded group of people, and ascribes this to the reality of some financial market conspiracies, and to the ability of conspiracy theories to provide necessary orientation in the market's day-to-day movements.

Conspiracy theories's calculations used data from the PRISM surveillance program, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, and the FBI forensic scandal.

Conspiracy theories noted that conspirators very rarely achieved their goal.

Conspiracy theories are a prevalent feature of Arab culture and politics.