Why are people susceptible to conspiracy theories?
Conspiracy theories arise in the context of fear, anxiety, mistrust, uncertainty, and feelings of powerlessness. For many Americans, recent years have provided many sources for these feelings. There’s been employment insecurity, stagnating wages, and thwarted social mobility. For some, technological leaps and social progress—expanding views of sexuality, and racial unrest—can feel destabilizing.
People with low levels of education are more likely than more-educated people to believe in conspiracy theories, but such theories are also common among the well-educated.
People at the political extremes of both the “left” and “right” seem more likely to endorse conspiracy beliefs than more moderate groups on either side.
Those who believe these theories typically show high levels of anxiety independent of external sources of stress, a high need for control over environment, and a high need for subjective certainty and, conversely, a low tolerance for ambiguity. They tend to have negative attitudes to authority, to feel alienated from the political system, and to see the modern world as unintelligible. Conspiracy theory believers are often suspicious and untrusting, and see others as plotting against them. They struggle with anger, resentment, and other hostile feelings as well as with fear. They have lower self-esteem than nonbelievers and have a need for external validation to maintain their self-esteem. They may have a strong desire to feel unique and special, and an exaggerated need to be in an exclusive in-group. Belief in conspiracy theories often also goes along with belief in paranormal phenomena, skepticism of scientific knowledge, and weaknesses in analytic thinking. Proneness to belief in conspiracy theories is also associated with religiosity, especially with people for whom a religious worldview is especially important. These traits are hardly universal among or exclusive to conspiracy theorists, but they help create a vulnerability to belief.
The tenacity of many conspiracy theories in the face of facts suggests that these beliefs are not merely alternate interpretations of facts but are rooted in conscious or unconscious wishes, in what cognitive psychologists call “motivated reasoning.”
There are a few motivations driving these wishes. They may be an effort to “protect or bolster one’s political worldview.” They may also protect or bolster a person’s own view of themselves. Anxiety, fear, and distrust can engender shame, resentment, jealousy, anger, or guilt. A person may disown their own feelings and project them onto others. The conspiracy theory can then serve to explain these feelings.
It is easier to pin our anxiety to the malevolent actions of others than to confront our own fears and worries. Thus, unacknowledged fear of becoming ill with COVID-19 might turn into fear that others are making up or exaggerating the pandemic for nefarious purposes.
...some conspiracy theories lead to actions and other beliefs that have negative social consequences. Belief in one or another conspiracy theory is associated with more acceptance of violent behavior, refusal to vaccinate school-age children, and opposition to actions to respond to climate change. In 2019, the FBI identified belief in the QAnon theories as a potential domestic terror threat. In the current COVID-19 crisis, believers in the many virus-related conspiracy theories are more likely to refuse to wear masks or maintain social distance. And, last Wednesday, thousands of Trump supporters, believers in the conspiracy theory promoted by the president that the election was stolen, invaded the Capitol and threatened American democracy itself.
...columnist Paul Krugman wrote, “Unlike the crazy conspiracy theories of the left—which do exist, but are supported only by a tiny fringe—the crazy conspiracy theories of the right are supported by important people: powerful politicians, television personalities with large audiences.” The widespread belief on the part of Trump supporters that Biden won the election only because of voter fraud, egged on by Trump himself despite the lack of any significant evidence, may leave a legacy of delegitimating the Biden administration and of delegitimating government and normal political processes themselves. And that, in fact, may be the point.
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