Lack of Online Resources Explaining the Psychology Behind Conspiracy Theories

[Osensitive1]

Psychology today website has a few articles. Only read the first two but would be happy to discuss any of your choosing, Mcalavera. Found them quite good, giving two different but logical perspectives of reasoning even though both articles did have the feel of being written by the same person. http://www.psychologytoday.com/search/query?keys=conspiracy+theory

[The_Chosen_One]

I don't trust this thread, I believe sinister forces are behind it.   

Maybe Sinnocent will rectify.

[Calavera]

Thanks for all the links, Renaeden, Parts, and Jack.

Jack, a lot of points that make sense in those two articles you've read from that link. So nothing really much for me to disagree with. Just that I also think people seek excitement in their lives, and that some seek it through these conspiracy theories.

One of my brothers is a conspiracy theorist, and that is why I am interested in what the hell is on his mind when he keeps spouting the same kind of nonsense Alex Jones spouts. Even intellectual arguments against his claims don't help much. These articles are making sense, especially how we tend to focus on the strengths in any evidence supporting our beliefs and ignore the weaknesses in such evidence. And that's what often keeps both sides (not just conspiracy theorists or fundamentalist Christians or extremist Muslims) stubbornly clinging to often presupposed beliefs ... even if one side has all the major evidence supporting his position.

[Calavera]

I have no idea if there was a conspiracy or not, but I do think that it was a massive boon for Bush and the far-right in America.

Of course, there was a conspiracy. Those plane hijackers didn't hit the buildings by accident.

A good question would who exactly was involved in this conspiracy.

Actually, that isn't the main focus of this thread. The issue is in how and why people who cling to conspiracy theories that are conclusively contradicted by all sorts of evidence think the way they do. If it's not America, it's the Illuminati or the Reptilians or the Titans or what have you.

[Osensitive1]

Thanks for all the links, Renaeden, Parts, and Jack.

Jack, a lot of points that make sense in those two articles you've read from that link. So nothing really much for me to disagree with. Just that I also think people seek excitement in their lives, and that some seek it through these conspiracy theories.

One of my brothers is a conspiracy theorist, and that is why I am interested in what the hell is on his mind when he keeps spouting the same kind of nonsense Alex Jones spouts. Even intellectual arguments against his claims don't help much. These articles are making sense, especially how we tend to focus on the strengths in any evidence supporting our beliefs and ignore the weaknesses in such evidence. And that's what often keeps both sides (not just conspiracy theorists or fundamentalist Christians or extremist Muslims) stubbornly clinging to often presupposed beliefs ... even if one side has all the major evidence supporting his position.

I see. Good luck with your brother.

[Calavera]

You must be one of those people who think we actually landed on the moon.

 :lol:

Well, think of it this way.

If they can cause earthquakes to happen using super advanced technology, then I don't see how landing men on the moon should be of any trouble to them.

[ProfessorFarnsworth]

You must be one of those people who think we actually landed on the moon.

 :lol:

Well, think of it this way.

If they can cause earthquakes to happen using super advanced technology, then I don't see how landing men on the moon should be of any trouble to them.

You sir, just brilliant summed up why conspiracy theorists are such nutters.

Besides, clearly they fail physics as considering the amount of energy required to produce a 9.0 earthquake utterly trumps all of Earth's nuclear arsenal yield. Even if you resorted to a resonance build-up by exciting iron ore with a resonant frequency of sound/emf, it would take decades to even get a significant earthquake to emerge, and it's target capabilities would be limited to already stressed fault lines. So in other words, all you could do with a earthquake machine is prematurely trigger earthquakes that are destined to happen soon.

Come to think of it, that would be very useful/life-saving technology if it meant the difference between a 5.9 (as the stress wasn't allowed to build up) and a 7.2 for instance.

 

[Calavera]

You must be one of those people who think we actually landed on the moon.

 :lol:

Well, think of it this way.

If they can cause earthquakes to happen using super advanced technology, then I don't see how landing men on the moon should be of any trouble to them.

You sir, just brilliant summed up why conspiracy theorists are such nutters.

Besides, clearly they fail physics as considering the amount of energy required to produce a 9.0 earthquake utterly trumps all of Earth's nuclear arsenal yield. Even if you resorted to a resonance build-up by exciting iron ore with a resonant frequency of sound/emf, it would take decades to even get a significant earthquake to emerge, and it's target capabilities would be limited to already stressed fault lines. So in other words, all you could do with a earthquake machine is prematurely trigger earthquakes that are destined to happen soon.

Come to think of it, that would be very useful/life-saving technology if it meant the difference between a 5.9 (as the stress wasn't allowed to build up) and a 7.2 for instance.

Speaking of science, that's one other funny thing about conspiracy theorists. All of a sudden, they're all experts in various fields of science (from physics to engineering to biology and so on).

Thanks to Alex Jones, of course.

[ProfessorFarnsworth]

You must be one of those people who think we actually landed on the moon.

 :lol:

Well, think of it this way.

If they can cause earthquakes to happen using super advanced technology, then I don't see how landing men on the moon should be of any trouble to them.

You sir, just brilliant summed up why conspiracy theorists are such nutters.

Besides, clearly they fail physics as considering the amount of energy required to produce a 9.0 earthquake utterly trumps all of Earth's nuclear arsenal yield. Even if you resorted to a resonance build-up by exciting iron ore with a resonant frequency of sound/emf, it would take decades to even get a significant earthquake to emerge, and it's target capabilities would be limited to already stressed fault lines. So in other words, all you could do with a earthquake machine is prematurely trigger earthquakes that are destined to happen soon.

Come to think of it, that would be very useful/life-saving technology if it meant the difference between a 5.9 (as the stress wasn't allowed to build up) and a 7.2 for instance.

Speaking of science, that's one other funny thing about conspiracy theorists. All of a sudden, they're all experts in various fields of science (from physics to engineering to biology and so on).

Thanks to Alex Jones, of course.

Alex Jones is a fucktard. Hell even in my heavily nutter conspiracy theory days I saw him as nuts. That says something doesn't it?

But I'm speculating on how a real-world application of a Earthquake machine would work, and unfortunately, it's not as awesome as they like to think it is, and not very practical either. Same goes for weather manipulation, finding a way to adjust barometric pressure on the fly? Same problem, requires a lot of energy that would be noticeable as artificial and traceable to it's source, and the conditions must already favour your goal.

[The_Chosen_One]

Speaking of conspiracy theories, how about global warming?

We know that global warming is a natural event that happens at the beginning and end of each ice-age, and yet we have all these greenies and pollies pushing the alternative energy message. I'm convinced that it's all to do with money, as the alternative energy people need grants and things to get their projects underway, and who better to convince than the greenies who have the government's ear.

Global warming = carbon tax = more money for govt funding.

['Butterflies']

I have no idea if there was a conspiracy or not, but I do think that it was a massive boon for Bush and the far-right in America.

Of course, there was a conspiracy. Those plane hijackers didn't hit the buildings by accident.

A good question would who exactly was involved in this conspiracy.

Actually, that isn't the main focus of this thread. The issue is in how and why people who cling to conspiracy theories that are conclusively contradicted by all sorts of evidence think the way they do. If it's not America, it's the Illuminati or the Reptilians or the Titans or what have you.

 :lol:

Fair enough. 

[Parts]

The ultimate conspiracy the Reptilians rule the world
http://www.reptilians-exposed.com/

["couldbecousin"]

The ultimate conspiracy the Reptilians rule the world
http://www.reptilians-exposed.com/

 By all means, continue to doubt us, our power remains undiminished. 

[eris]

my 9/11 point...

Yes I know it was terrorism. I just wonder if the US govt recruited those terrorists. It created a lot of public sport for war. I think that without 9/11 the following 2 wars would not  have been embraced by so many people. This is just like an idea I have and cant prove it or give any facts. I am not convinced one way or another I am just cynical.

I think that the Jessica Lynch scandal was a conspiracy by the US govt to entice patriotism in the country.

And I have a lot of doubts as to where all the money that goes into NASA really goes. I do believe we went to the moon lol I just think much of the money goes to creating secret weapons.

I must sound crazy

And not a conspiracy theorist, I just doubt things.

[Scrapheap]

You know, we see a lot of sites that speak against religion but not enough against conspiracy theories. Wish there were more of them, specifically pertaining to the psychology behind such theories (if they should be called theories).

I'm not  sure if it's still up, but skeptic.com used to be a good site for de-bunking just about everything.

It's run by Dr. Michael Shermer, a hevyweight in the de-bunking biz here in the US.

He's good friends with the Mythbusters duo ( Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage), Penn&Teller and Eugine Scott from the National Center for Science Education.