Psychological Benefits of Believing in Conspiracy Theories

I believe in an above average amount. Honestly, they used to all be pretty detrimental, but now that half the country has has lost trust in the ruling class, it’s become easier for me.

I’d like to mention I do not believe in obvious psyops like flat Earth or birds not being real or Q anon.

>Yes, the original 'conspiracy theory' was religion.

Not really.

The religious experience tends to operate differently than conspiracy in terms of the psychology and neuroscience at work.

As the article describes, conspiracy is mostly a defense mechanism for the ego. It gives people agency in a chaotic world. It rationalizes the chaos into a simple narrative. These serve to reinforce the current executive self as it currently is.

In contrast, the religious experience tends towards being a conduit for change in self. In general, religion serves to present potential ideal future self to model ones behavior on. Be like jesus/budda/serapis etc.

I don't doubt that religion and conspiracy share some mechanisms, and that one creeps into the other depending on where you look. However, my intuition is that religion at it's core is rooted in change of self to fit a cultural/moral ideal, while conspiracy is rooted in paranoia of harm to self or others.

This is very consistent with my own theory about why people like conspiracy theories. A lot of people feel like they've been insufficiently recognized or rewarded for their intellect. They want to find some idea that allows them to be not only right but right before anyone else is. They want to be that theory's representative, to be associated with the theory in peers' minds when the theory itself is recognized as insightful. They want to feel (or at least seem) a little bit prescient.

There's no reward for being right when everyone else is too. There's little penalty for being wrong a few times either, so they'll latch onto a bunch of wild theories in hopes that just one will get them the validation they seek. Note that their own belief is hardly necessary. Often it's actually quite weak. If an idea is fully discredited it's swiftly disavowed, and hopefully forgotten.

It's easy to spot this behavior online, of course. Reddit is full of it, and this site isn't exactly immune either. Strident, even aggressive, evangelism about a "contrarian" theory is usually the big tell. Accusing others of being "sheep" is solid confirmation. People who are pursuing an unconventional theory for its own sake, out of pure intellectual curiosity, tend to be quieter about it. The loud ones are just playing Russian Roulette with their reputations and sometimes their friendships. It's the same impulse that has led more than a few Nobel prize winners to start issuing grand pronouncements in unrelated fields where they're still rank amateurs, just like sports or entertainers trying to get into the spotlight one more time and usually embarrassing themselves. Or Rudy Giuliani, but the less said about him the better.

A few quirky ideas might make you an oddball, but a hundred, month after month and year after year, makes you a laughingstock and/or a pain in the ass. My father-in-law alienated most people around him by going this route. So did another of my own friends. I feel the temptation myself, and have to consciously reject that path. Some might say I've failed, and this theory itself is evidence of that failure. :shrug: In any case, there it is FWIW.

While the Roswell stuff is a dumb conspiracy, life has taught me that when money is available, and there is a goal of any kind among a group of people, that a conspiracy often follows.

That's an interesting way of looking at it. The theory you highlight was not of course the 'original' theory which may have been something more like.

> Why did something bad happen? I must have done something wrong.

> Why did something good happen? I must have done something right.

> There sure is a lot of cool stuff around. Someone must have made it.

Perhaps the original conspiracy theory is free-will, the idea that we have some control over anything that happens to us. No evidence, no proofs, just a hopeful thought that we can do something to make things better.