created 2/28/97, last updated 3//97
created 2/28/97, last updated 3//97
I believe that debunking conspiracy theories is one of the greatest socialservices rendered by skeptics. I remind people that Adolf Hitler convincedpeople to believe in and make a natural reaction to a claim of an evilconspiracy threatening Europe. Lately, my investigation of Dennis Lee's free energy machines is stymied only by the powerof his claim that a international multigenerational conspiracy is coveringup free energy. Also, both Fred Mitchell and I have been voices of reason withinmilitia discussion groups on the internet. so naturally, I was thrilled to beable to hear social psychologist, Evan Harrington speak on the psychology of conspiracy thinking in February of 1997.
Evan focused on what conspiracy beliefs do for the holder and what are predictorsfor believing in conspiracy theory. Carl Hoagland studied how to getAmerica behind the WW II war effort and examined how to get people to believethings. Apparently, high credibility sources will convince people quickly,but low credibility sources have a "sleeper effect" of more slowly changingpeoples beliefs. Once someone ascribes to a belief, they tend to forget if itoriginated from a low credibility source. Appeals to emotion, particularly evoking fearseem to be powerful ways to manipulate public thought. Hitler was a master ofthis. The most common dangerous conspiracy theories running amuck today are: " black helicopters will whisk free thinking Americans to newly built concentration camps" and "the actions at Waco were a deliberate effort to exterminate Christians". Evan pointed out that theories of "Cognitive Dissonance" explain much conspiracy belief.Apparently, if your attitudes and behaviors clash, than one will haveto change. In the case of belief of irrational - the stakes seem to rise.for example, if the conspiracy believer finds that others don't share thebelief - this creates a conflict. The belief can either be dropped or theother person can be viewed as a dupe of the powerful conspiracy
Evan used the example of flight 800 rumors on the internet which tend to build off each other. Repeated circular references can amplify thepower of rumors. Such rumors seem to breed best during periods of uncertaintyand work best when not personally relevant. A good example of mass hysteria wasgiven of a chewing gum in Egypt from Israel purported to cause helpless females tobe over come by primitive urges. We learned that there have been hundreds ofcases of mass psychogenic illness where waves of people parrot each othersbelief of having some strange symptom.
Another psychological force bolstering conspiracy thinking is " Social Identity Theory " where people groups tend to be enforcedby derogating other groups. Bigoted behavior in America is most prevalent among unsuccessful people predisposed to looking for others to blame for theirfailures. Evan showed tape of Nation of Islam Leader promising that largeUFO's would soon rain down destruction on white America. I was both amused and frightened by the claim. Evan identified the psychological trait of anomia (feeling of insecurity and that the world is going to hell ) hasbeen found very prominent among conspiracy thinkers.After WW II a study was done to find out what kind of people are most likelyto become oppressive (ie Nazis). The developed an "F" scale to try to measurelikelihood of becoming fascist. Newer researchers have been defining aspects of behavior associated with Authoritarianism such as aggression,conventionalism and submission to authoritarianism. The conventionalism attribute makes them embrace older establishedmores (ie tight biblical based Christianity) and see newer attitudes asa grave threat. At first you would expect an authoritarian person to backour own government - but these people tend to view our government as corrupt. More authoritarian peopletend to really lower the boom on people in simulated jury conditions. They alsotend to be highly eroto-phobic - they tend to have extremely repressed views of sex. (reviewers note: two childhood friends of mine who love right wing extremist conspiracy theory are extremely sexually repressed) Conspiracy thinkers tend be Dichotomy Thinkers They tend to simply view all things as being either evil or good. They tend to be losers who feel part of the big picture by being one of the elect able to spot the conspiracy. The theory allows them to easily explain away misfortune. Authoritarian people are predisposed towardbelieving that one set of rules should be very strictly enforced. Conspiracybelievers have a much higher than usual tendency to be authoritarian70% of people believe that a conspiracy killed JFK. 64% of people feelpersonally victimized by conspiracy.
There has been studies of situational determinates of behavior:apparently, southern lynchings have gone up when cotton prices go down. It isusually people in lower economic strata who tend view other groups as evil.
Evan made a fascinating personal observation that almost none of the manyattempted assassinations have spawned conspiracy theories where as successfulassassinations and many natural deaths have been attributed to myriads ofconspiracy claims.
Evan occasionally checks his email at: evan-h@vm.temple.edu
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please send mail to eric@voicenet.com
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