Chapter twelve: Conspiracy Theories by Jovan Byford

Chapter twelve Conspiracy theories Jovan Byford

One Introduction

Many dramatic events in the world - deaths of public figures, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, plane crashes, political assassinations, military conflicts, meteorological anomalies and disease outbreaks - generate a certain amount of speculation about possible conspiracies behind them. Since the late nineteen nineties the main medium for the transmission of conspiracy theories has been the internet, although outlandish claims of hidden agendas and secret plots receive surprisingly regular coverage on television news channels, in newspapers and magazines, on radio talk shows, and so on. Admittedly, most conspiracy theories tend to be short lived (who today remembers the conspiracy theories about the death of Michael Jackson in two thousand nine, for example?) or of local, rather than global, consequence. Nevertheless, some - including those about the nine eleven World Trade Center attack, the assassination in nineteen sixty-three of the American president John F. Kennedy, or supposed secret societies ruling the world's finances and politics - have become part of a more robust set of beliefs. These beliefs, as well as being widespread and persistent, have acquired symbolic significance and the capacity to mobilise sections of the public around the world.

Given the apparent popularity of conspiracy theories, it should come as no surprise that over the years they have attracted interest from psychologists. Conspiracy theories, as forms of explanation, pose important questions about the human mind and behaviour, some of which you have already encountered in previous chapters. How do people understand the world around them? How do they process information and interpret evidence? Why do some people respond to a dramatic event by attributing its causes to a conspiracy, and what might be the psychological dynamic behind this?

In this chapter you will learn about some of the research on the psychology of conspiracy theories. As you will discover, the central questions that have preoccupied psychologists interested in this topic are why some people are more susceptible to conspiracy theories than others, and what psychological variables differentiate believers from sceptics. Throughout this chapter you will engage critically with these questions, as well as exploring a different way of understanding the continuing appeal of conspiracy theories. This alternative approach focuses not so much on the psychological characteristics of the conspiracy theorist, but on the conspiracy theories themselves and the role they play, as social explanations, in the everyday practice of making sense of the world.

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

· explain what is meant by the term 'conspiracy theory'

· outline some studies and methods that researchers have used to identify possible psychological characteristics of believers in conspiracy theories

· discuss some of the limitations of questionnaire-based studies of conspiracy theories

· summarise the differences between studies that focus on the personality characteristics and disposition of conspiracy theorists and those that explore the conspiracy theories and their social and psychological functions.

Two What exactly are 'conspiracy theories'?

Before you begin to explore the psychology of conspiracy theories, first take a moment to think about what exactly is meant by the term 'conspiracy theory'. At first thought, the meaning of the term might seem obvious, as the word 'conspiracy' is well established in the English language. Derived from the Latin conspirare, meaning 'to breathe together', it signifies the joining together of two or more individuals and their acting in collusion to achieve a desired outcome (and, when used in law, a 'conspiracy' involves illegality). In the broadest sense, therefore, a conspiracy theory would be an explanation that attributes the causes of an event to a conspiracy or a plot.

However, while any explanation that suggests collusion between individuals is, in a literal sense, a 'conspiracy theory', in everyday language the term tends to be used to signify a much narrower class of phenomena. Activity twelve point one illustrates the distinction.