#psychology

idea

A conspiracy is a group of people conspiring together to commit a despicable act.

Conspiracy theories are alternative views of reality based on the idea that governments and "powers that be" are conspiring to hide the truth. Such examples are flat earth, 911 was an inside job, the reptilians, etc.

These are often related to the Dunning Kruger effect, in which having little knowledge in something confers a false sense of mastery[2]. {TODO: citation needed}

Conspiracy theorists have hard beliefs, and they become part of their identity[1]. They are looking only for confirmation of their beliefs, or disproval of the beliefs they oppose, but will not trust anything proving them wrong, including their own experiments[3].

They become engrained in a social circle from which leaving bears a high cost[2]. They also often are ridiculed, which tends to trigger a protective mechanism of denial rather than being willing to debate[2], and instead being open in the discussion is probably a better approach[2].

They appear because of Trust as the willingness to take risks erosion, such as scandals and repeated attempts from people in power to benefit from the system.

links

Conspiracy theories make a lot of [[tacit assumptions]].

Tribal Unity

Anecdotal Evidence

Tacit assumption

Trust as the willingness to take risks

references

[1]: Seth Godin / This is marketing is mentioning how conspiracy theorists are not after truth but the feeling of being and outlier

[2]: Behind the curve is a documentary on flat earth, describing a few concepts such as the fact that conspiracy theorists are not idiots but just badly educated, that how to fix it is not by shaming them but trying to educate them, and that moving back to the "other side" is very hard, because of the social cost it bears.

[3]: SciManDan / What is truly behind the curve showing excerpts from behind the curve[2] in which flat earthers perform two experiments in a row proving them the curvature of the earth and the rotation of the earth, but still denying their own results.