08 Oct '19 18:16>
A qualified psychologist called Dr. Todd Grande, who I like because his approach is very science based, has released a few videos about conspiracy theories and what personality aspects contribute to people believing them. I've put the links to two of them here, they are both about 15 to 20 minutes long. He always gives references so I've copied and pasted them.
On a technical note, he uses the term "crystallized intelligence". They distinguish between "fluid" and "crystallized" intelligence. Fluid intelligence is raw processing power, think of an 8 year old whizz kid mathematician. If one had to explain crystallized intelligence in one word it would be "wisdom". It's essentially the amount of learning and experience one has, one expects this to be higher in older people.
Also note that Dr. Grande is very clear that these are things that people with normal range psychologies believe. Believing in conspiracy theories is not, of itself, indicative of mental health problems.
In this video Dr. Grande talks about what is wrong with conspiracy theories. After all some of them are true, c.f. Project Ultra. He's talking about the logical flaws, from a personality perspective that are in the thinking. As well as an argument about why large scale conspiracies would be exposed within about 4 years.
YouTube
The references he gives for this video are:
Grimes, (2016), On the Viability of Conspiratorial Beliefs. PLOS ONE 11(3): e0151003. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories. Current directions in psychological science, 26(6), 538-542.
The second video is more focused on the personality aspects of why people come to believe these things in the first place.
YouTube
His references are:
Contesting epistemic authority: Conspiracy theories on the boundaries of science.
Harambam J
Public Understanding of Science 24(4):466
SAGE Publications Ltd 20150501
0963-6625
Swami, V., Coles, R., Stieger, S., Pietschnig, J., Furnham, A., Rehim, S., & Voracek, M. (2011). Conspiracist ideation in Britain and Austria: evidence of a monological belief system and associations between individual psychological differences and real-world and fictitious conspiracy theories. British Journal Of Psychology (London, England: 1953), 102(3), 443–463.
BLANUŠA, N. (2011). Depathologized Conspiracy Theories and Cynical Reason: Discursive Positions and Phantasmatic Structures. Politicka Misao: Croatian Political Science Review, 48(1), 94–107.
Nothing Happens by Accident, or Does It? A Low Prior for Randomness Does Not Explain Belief in Conspiracy Theories.
Dieguez S
Psychological Science 26(11):1762
SAGE Publications, Inc 20151101
0956-7976
On a technical note, he uses the term "crystallized intelligence". They distinguish between "fluid" and "crystallized" intelligence. Fluid intelligence is raw processing power, think of an 8 year old whizz kid mathematician. If one had to explain crystallized intelligence in one word it would be "wisdom". It's essentially the amount of learning and experience one has, one expects this to be higher in older people.
Also note that Dr. Grande is very clear that these are things that people with normal range psychologies believe. Believing in conspiracy theories is not, of itself, indicative of mental health problems.
In this video Dr. Grande talks about what is wrong with conspiracy theories. After all some of them are true, c.f. Project Ultra. He's talking about the logical flaws, from a personality perspective that are in the thinking. As well as an argument about why large scale conspiracies would be exposed within about 4 years.
YouTube
The references he gives for this video are:
Grimes, (2016), On the Viability of Conspiratorial Beliefs. PLOS ONE 11(3): e0151003. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories. Current directions in psychological science, 26(6), 538-542.
The second video is more focused on the personality aspects of why people come to believe these things in the first place.
YouTube
His references are:
Contesting epistemic authority: Conspiracy theories on the boundaries of science.
Harambam J
Public Understanding of Science 24(4):466
SAGE Publications Ltd 20150501
0963-6625
Swami, V., Coles, R., Stieger, S., Pietschnig, J., Furnham, A., Rehim, S., & Voracek, M. (2011). Conspiracist ideation in Britain and Austria: evidence of a monological belief system and associations between individual psychological differences and real-world and fictitious conspiracy theories. British Journal Of Psychology (London, England: 1953), 102(3), 443–463.
BLANUŠA, N. (2011). Depathologized Conspiracy Theories and Cynical Reason: Discursive Positions and Phantasmatic Structures. Politicka Misao: Croatian Political Science Review, 48(1), 94–107.
Nothing Happens by Accident, or Does It? A Low Prior for Randomness Does Not Explain Belief in Conspiracy Theories.
Dieguez S
Psychological Science 26(11):1762
SAGE Publications, Inc 20151101
0956-7976