Why Do Some People Believe Conspiracy Theories?

which affects how they see the world. The research article we're talking about was published in twenty seventeen in the European Journal of Social Psychology. In it, the researchers defined conspiracy theory belief as the assumption that a group of people colludes together in secret to attain evil goals. They wanted to test whether belief in conspiracy theories was linked to a phenomenon known as illusory pattern perception, that is,

seeing patterns where none really exist. First, they asked two hundred and sixty four subjects to rate the strength of their belief in both fictitious and well known conspiracy theories on a scale of one to nine. Their belief in supernatural phenomena like the horoscopes and telepathy was also ranked. Then, the subjects participated in five different studies. In the first, they were asked if they saw any patterns and a

series of random coin tosses. In the second study, they were asked to guess what the next coin toss would be after a series of random tosses. Some were instructed to look for patterns and others weren't. The study authors wrote in their article, perceiving patterns in randomly generated coin toss outcomes was significantly correlated with both measures of conspiracy

beliefs and with supernatural beliefs. These findings are the first to directly suggest a relationship between belief in conspiracy theories and patterns perception, and conceptually replicate this relationship for supernatural beliefs. Then, a third study found a link between irrational beliefs and perception of patterns in chaotic paintings such as those by

Jackson Pollock, a known for his paint splatter art. In other words, people with greater belief in conspiracy theories and the supernatural saw more patterns in the art even though there weren't any. The fourth study had the participants read a blog that was either conspiracist, skeptic, or paranormal in

subject matter. The results showed that agreement with the conspiracist or paranormal blogs predicted pattern perception, and the fifth study manipulated an Internet article about the National Security Administration so that there were two versions, one pro conspiracy and the other anti conspiracy. Those who read the pro conspiracy version were more likely to see patterns in the world events described in the article. The fourth and fifth studies showed

how external influences affected people's perceptions. The authors wrote, taken together, these findings support the assumption that illusory pattern perception is a basic cognitive aspect of the conspiracy and supernatural beliefs under investigation here and now. Regular old pattern perception is important for human behavior because it helps us understand the world by figuring out relationships, like a drinking water helps with thirst, and being mean to someone will earn an

unfriendly reaction. If we couldn't see any patterns, we'd be doomed to make the same mistakes over and over. It's when we see patterns where they aren't that we may get into trouble. Before the article this episode is based on how stuff works. Spoke with a local expert of sorts our coworker Ben Bollen, who's a co host of the podcast Stuff They Don't Want You To Know, a show that delves into fringe theories, conspiracy theories, and very real,

very proven conspiracies. He said, the really fascinating thing about illusory pattern perception is that it can affect much more than conspiracy theories. This is sort of the same thing responsible for a lot of superstitions of the span of human history. That's why we get those beliefs of good or bad luck, because we constructed a pattern based on

the evidence available at the time. And now one might think that the availability nowadays of accurate and scientific information would negate belief in conspiracy theories, but just the opposite has happened. According to Bolin, his own show got a ton of hate mail after an episode disproving the notion of a flat earth. He explained that confirmation bias leads some people to believe what they want to believe and totally shut out evidence to the contrary, no matter how legitimate.

He said, Now, with confirmation bias functioning in tandem with this illusory pattern perception, people are not finding all the information that's accurate. They're finding all the information whatsoever that would fit into their view of this pattern. So more information has actually accelerated the problem more than mitigating it. This is reinforced by the feeling of accomplishment that often accompanies belief in unproven theories. People think that they're doing

a noble thing by exposing such theories. Bolland said, they feel a moral imperative to unearth the truth and spread it to the masses. But finally, he warns, not all conspiracy theories turn out to be incorrect. Some have at least a grain of truth, and some are even bigger than we imagine a take, for example, the Watergate scandal, or how it turned out that banking giant HSBC was

routinely laundering money for drug traffickers. I've guessed on stuff they don't want, you know know, a couple of times myself to talk about how diamond cartels set the price of these not actually rare stones, among other things. That's one that the hides and planes sight using marketing campaigns

to convince consumers of diamond's value. But back in twenty sixteen, a physicist calculated the number of people who would need to be part of some of the alleged secret conspiracies like the moon landing and how long they could keep it together without it blowing open. He reported that for the moon landing to have been a hoax, four hundred and ten thousand people would have been involved, and statistically they wouldn't have been able to keep a lid on

it for more than three years and eight months. Today's episode is based on the article Yes, conspiracy theorists, brains really are different on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Aliah Hoyt. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows