Why People Believe In Conspiracy Theories...
Oct 2, 2015 7:12:12 GMT -6
Nugget, bonhommearmonica, and 10 more like this
Post by Mystic Wanderer on Oct 2, 2015 7:12:12 GMT -6
Sigh... this article made me want to jump through the computer screen and choke someone out!!!
Of course, this is all based on "scientific studies" regarding conspiracy theorists, so my expectations weren't too high to find that they had anything good to say.
Of course, this is all based on "scientific studies" regarding conspiracy theorists, so my expectations weren't too high to find that they had anything good to say.
UFO sightings. Hoaxed moon landings. Reptiles who rule the world.
What, in the name of our alleged lizard overlords, convinces a person to believe in conspiracy theories?
What, in the name of our alleged lizard overlords, convinces a person to believe in conspiracy theories?
According to a pair of new studies published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, conspiracy theorists—and there are a lot more of them than you may think—tend to have one thing in common: they feel a lack of control over their lives.
Jan-Willem van Prooijen, associate professor in social and organizational psychology at VU University Amsterdam, has been studying conspiracy theories and those who believe them for six years. “When I started this research, one of the things that I really found astonishing was how many people believe in certain conspiracy theories,” he says.
Jan-Willem van Prooijen, associate professor in social and organizational psychology at VU University Amsterdam, has been studying conspiracy theories and those who believe them for six years. “When I started this research, one of the things that I really found astonishing was how many people believe in certain conspiracy theories,” he says.
This is obviously propaganda to discredit what the conspiracy theorists (critical thinkers) have discovered, with PROOF to back up their claims!
The "Powers That Be" are being revealed, so it appears they have now started a "smear campaign" against the Conspiracy Sites/Theorists.
They can kiss this:
The scientific findings in the above study may be true, but that does NOT mean that the conspiracy theory concerning an event is BS!
Please tell me you all KNOW, based on evidence, that it IS true that the FDA is in cahoots with Big Pharma, and they definitely DO NOT want a cure for cancer!
And we all know Kennedy was murderer because he wanted to make changes that the "elite" didn't want changed. Some also say he wanted to disclose the UFO truth to the public. And we also know it wasn't Oswald who shot him; it was one of the Secret Service men riding in the car with him. This is clearly shown in the released footage.
If you think otherwise on any of the above topics, it's time for you to dig a little deeper in your research!
Well, duh!!!! No Sh*t, Sherlock!!!!
Until "they" stop hiding the truth, the conspiracy theorists will continue to dig down into the deepest rabbit hole and expose the scumbags for what they are!
If they think a smear campaign will make us stop, they better think again!!
Source
The "Powers That Be" are being revealed, so it appears they have now started a "smear campaign" against the Conspiracy Sites/Theorists.
They can kiss this:
Conspiracy theories often crop up during times of uncertainty and fear: after terrorist strikes, financial crises, high-profile deaths and natural disasters. Past research suggests that if people feel they don’t have control over a situation, they’ll try to make sense of it and find out what happened. “The sense-making leads them to connect dots that aren’t necessarily connected in reality,” van Prooijen says.
He and his team showed that the opposite is also true: feeling a sense of control is protective against believing conspiracy theories. In one of the studies, they split 119 people into two groups and told one group to write down times when they were totally in control; the other group was told to jot down a time when they didn’t feel in control. (This gave one group a powerful feeling, while the other felt helpless.)
The researchers then surveyed their attitudes on a building project in Amsterdam that accidentally destroyed the foundations of many houses, and which many people believed was a conspiracy of the city council. But those who had been primed to feel in control were less likely to believe the government was up to something evil. “We found that if you give people a feeling of control, then they are less inclined to believe those conspiracy theories,” he says. “Giving people a sense of control can make them less suspicious over governmental operations.”
He and his team showed that the opposite is also true: feeling a sense of control is protective against believing conspiracy theories. In one of the studies, they split 119 people into two groups and told one group to write down times when they were totally in control; the other group was told to jot down a time when they didn’t feel in control. (This gave one group a powerful feeling, while the other felt helpless.)
The researchers then surveyed their attitudes on a building project in Amsterdam that accidentally destroyed the foundations of many houses, and which many people believed was a conspiracy of the city council. But those who had been primed to feel in control were less likely to believe the government was up to something evil. “We found that if you give people a feeling of control, then they are less inclined to believe those conspiracy theories,” he says. “Giving people a sense of control can make them less suspicious over governmental operations.”
The scientific findings in the above study may be true, but that does NOT mean that the conspiracy theory concerning an event is BS!
The second experiment looked at survey data from a nationally representative sample of Americans conducted in the last months of 1999 leading up to Y2K. “The more that people feared the millennium bug in 1999, the more likely they were inclined to believe in other conspiracy theories, ranging from Kennedy to the government hiding evidence of the existence of UFOs,” van Prooijen says. The best predictor of believing in one conspiracy, he says, is believing in another.
This finding backs up data from another group last year, which found that 37% of surveyed Americans believe that the FDA is deliberately preventing the public from accessing natural cures for cancer because they’re beholden to drug companies.
This finding backs up data from another group last year, which found that 37% of surveyed Americans believe that the FDA is deliberately preventing the public from accessing natural cures for cancer because they’re beholden to drug companies.
Please tell me you all KNOW, based on evidence, that it IS true that the FDA is in cahoots with Big Pharma, and they definitely DO NOT want a cure for cancer!
And we all know Kennedy was murderer because he wanted to make changes that the "elite" didn't want changed. Some also say he wanted to disclose the UFO truth to the public. And we also know it wasn't Oswald who shot him; it was one of the Secret Service men riding in the car with him. This is clearly shown in the released footage.
If you think otherwise on any of the above topics, it's time for you to dig a little deeper in your research!
These beliefs can be very hard to change, but giving people a feeling of control could help dispel some conspiratorial beliefs, the new research suggests—a finding that could prove useful worldwide. “There are no doubt cultural variables influencing it,” van Prooijen says. “But the essence of conspiracy theorizing is, I think, universal in human beings. People have a natural tendency to be suspicious of groups that are powerful and potentially hostile.”
Well, duh!!!! No Sh*t, Sherlock!!!!
Until "they" stop hiding the truth, the conspiracy theorists will continue to dig down into the deepest rabbit hole and expose the scumbags for what they are!
If they think a smear campaign will make us stop, they better think again!!
Source