Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

It's all about how ideas spread, and how gullible, stupid, and/or ignorant people are. On the net, as I mentioned elsewhere here, you might be able to persuade one person that there isn't a conspiracy (unlikely though, since they usually believe them regardless of evidence) but you can't shut down the conspiracy websites (like Hoagland's one for example) that are the root of those ideas, which means that those ideas are still there contaminating the minds of people who are open to them.

Well, I'm always a little skeptical of certain things the government does - but not completely obvious things like the Moon missions.

I think it's a healthy society that is a little skeptical of its government.

For instance, when the US military says it bombed a house that was full of terrorists and the Arab news reports that it was an orphanage and only innocent women and children were killed - I think the truth may lie somewhere in between.

I understand where you are coming from Tucson_Tim and I suspect that a lot of people feel like you do, and that this explains this rise in CTs.

But there is also a problem here. One side says "blue", another side says "red", and our interpretation is that the "truth" must be some shade of purple. And we do that because folks on those two sides could potentially have a motivation to lie and have done so on other issues.

But that isn't always true and in fact, might rarely be true. Maybe the answer really is blue. Maybe the "bluers" lies one time in a thousand, and so 99.9% of the time the answer really is blue. Or maybe it is the opposite situation (they usually lie). But by assuming "purple", we are in fact, usually wrong.

(as I read this, I'm not sure I'm making myself clear - but take this as a first pass)

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

I understand. It depends on the subject. There are some things where I am immediately skeptical and others where I am immediately trusting.

I think political motivations have a lot to do with many conspiracy theories. The former Soviet Union used to spread disinformation about the US on a regular basis. One such claim what that the US invented AIDS in a lab and deliberately released it to the population. There are a lot of people around the world who believe this.

There are also those who see everything through the prism of their political biases. During the Clinton years, there were one set of kooks who claimed Clinton was behind a rash of "suspicious deaths" and even maintained the "Clinton Body Count". During the current administration, BDS sufferers automatically see a conspiracy behind everything the president says or does. This is by no means limited to the US, either. If you're predisposed to assume that the government is wrong or evil (especially when your side isn't in control), then it isn't a stretch to believe conspiracy theories.

Everyone wants to think that they know more than the other guy. So they glom onto whatever idea sounds good to them. And sometimes they just want someone to blame for something bad, and the existing reasons given are emotionally unsatisfying; not enough "truthiness" for them. Once they've made up their minds that they know The Truth (because it feels like it must be true), that's it, it's set in stone and no mere fact is going to convince them otherwise. Rationalization takes over and everything they learn gets filtered through that belief.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

I certainly think that a lot of conspiracies come forth out of some sort of anarchy, trying to spread distrust and hate for the ruling authorities. Strangely enough I can be quite anarchic myself, and I've gotten myself in quite some trouble with it. Apart from that I'm a nice guy.

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I animate LEGO Bricks as a hobby. Isn't that just awesome?!

I have enough trouble figuring out exactly what he's saying and means, let alone reading any conspiracy into it!



Meanwhile, having run into my first CT back in the 1950s (Pearl Harbor), and many since then, I have seen a number of underlying themes (not memes) that unite this group.

1. CT believers typically tend to be somewhat disenfranchised from mainstream society and thought. Their belief in CTs is a way of coping with this by trying to turn the tables.

2. CT believers typically tend to be very insecure and, as usually happens, subject to spells of megalomania (Enterprise Mission, anyone?). Once again, claiming to know something that very few (if any) other people know about some important historic event is a real ego boost (at least within the realm of the CT believer's mind).

3. CT believers are typically very lazy and undisciplined, but fervently hold to their beliefs and want other people to buy into them too (Mr. Leaf Blower Descent Engine, anyone?). This is known as "short circuiting the system" and results in many CT believers and proponents providing incredible resumes complete with extraordinary academic achievements for which there is no objective evidence.

4. CT believers usually see themselves as the last bastion of that great American tradition, "the little man". Either they are the little man, or are sticking up for him. Americans have a weakness for underdogs, often unfortunately at the expense of requiring any credibility re the underdog's claims.

5. Astronomy and space exploration are prime subjects for CT believers since so very few people get any kind of education in these subjects. Thus the majority of the population is ripe for the picking by CTers who distort these subjects to fit their unfounded beliefs.

There are more, but those seem to be the main ones that I'm thinking of now based on my experience.

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To add to your list, Maksutov....

CTers either look for attention (i.e, the maker of "Loose Change") and thus make up a theory, or they are not socially successful, and believe that by believing in conspriacy theories, they feel as if they are part of a special, elite group that is above the rest of society.

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I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid...and I went ahead anyway. - Crow T. Robot

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

some people think that just because they can't do it, it can't be done.
thus, Apollo was faked.
or they think that there is some sort of greater purpose in everything.
thus, Kennedy was taken out by a group of people inside the government.
it is left up to the imaginations and life experiences of the individual to figure out which version of any given conspiracy they believe in.

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"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

People are predisposed to form ingroups and outgroups. The higher the price of admission to an ingroup, then generally the greater the loyalty to that group because after all, if the member paid a high price to join a group that didn't deserve loyalty that would mean the member was pretty stupid to join. Instead of admitting they were stupid many people increase their dedication to the group instead. In the old days admission to a group may have involved a physical ordeal or initiation rite, but today the price of admission is more likely to believe in something outlandish or magical. The best examples of these groups are those that believe in the existance supernatural beings.

A scientific study on conspiracists? Seems pointless to me. The scientific community, who tend to not be conspiracists will say, "ah, good data". The conspirasists will say, "it's a conspiracy!!!". And those inbetween are probably not all that familiar or interested in the whole "conspiracy versus science" debate.

Anyway, I think CT's exist because of our need to be able to explaine the world arround us. That (at least, to me) seems to be an inate human quality; curiousness about our environment. And if you lack the learning or skills to be able to explaine the world around you, then you'll be more likely to jump on the easier path to CT'dom.

Therefore, if more people were more learned on science, or at least just scientific method (which applies to all aspects of reason), then you wouldn't see as many CT's. Hmmmm...could probably test that by looking at groups who recieve more formal education in science and reasoning and compair them to groups with less formal education.

Anyway that's my two-cents.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

"A long time ago, yet somehow in the future"

but the people with all the fancy book learnin and what not will have been brainwashed by the man into believing that there is a scientific explanation for everything- but the "uneducated" people wouldn't have been brainwashed into believing the "official" story, and would know the truth..
haven't you been paying attention?

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"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

aaaaah, The Man. About time he got mentioned today. But capitalize next time please.

More serious, you do touch a subject that many people don't sem to grasp:

Science doesn't claim to have the correct answer for everything. Science even has no answer whatsoever for some things, well "don't know" is the answer there. And any answers it does have are per definition not "correct" as a final end, but always open to correction. Science works with most likely. And most likely goes anywhere from "no idea at all" up to "extremely certain".

(excluding mathematics)

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Back to the "the answer is purple if one side says blue and one says red," unfortunately, this is often the way the Government thinks in terms of science. If one group of scientists says 2+2=4 and one group of "scientists" says 2+2=6, then the Government will often think that 2+2 must equal 5. Hence Intelligent Design.

Getting back to why conspiracy theories abound, I point to 5 main reasons in my Moon Hoax talk:

(1) Account for variotions in observation and misinterpretation of an observation.

(2) Natural distrust of authority figures.

(3) We like to be "on the inside."

(4) To seem intelligent.

(5) Entertainment and shock value - often the conspiracy is much more interesting than the truth, and it sure sells better.

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"If not now, later." -- me

Useful astro site (yes, it's mine, but it's still quite extensive) ~ http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/index.html
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I agree with all five of those points, Stu. It's just sad that so many people think some impossible conspiracy that is so plainly flawed is moreintersting than the actual science, engineering, and bravery, and sacrafice behind the real events. But that's the same sadness I feel when I see that more people find publications such as "the National Enquierer" and "Weekly World News" more interesting than...well, just about anything else.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

"A long time ago, yet somehow in the future"

Conspiracy teories are on the rise. That is bad indeed.

But in the other hand, there is another thing that is almost as harmful as that: what i call the "Wizard of Oz" state of thinking.

Everyone is as sweet, innocent and naive as Dorothy. We see the world as she did. There are no conspiracies. The world is perfect. Our rulers and the corporates want the best for us. They show every piece of information to us, because it is their duty. They never steal, cheat, lie. Everything that we know from history, is 100% exactly and accurate. There are no unknow histories. There are no secrets. There is no reason, not a single one, to think that it can be a conspiracy in what they do. They don´t care about money and power.

Sorry for my english.

Don't apologize for your English - it's very good.

And a very good point made!