Is anybody interested in the psychology of conspiracy theories? As an ex-conspiracy theorist, it was amazing to see all of the ridiculous things one can believe under the spell of conspiratorial belief systems. I believed in a 10th planet called Nibiru that contained an alien race and that the Sumerians were direct ancestors of those beings. I believed in the world grid theory, where all around the world there are spots of electromagnetic radiation that make any civilization living on those spots able to take advantage of this radiation to move huge blocks of rock to make things like the pyramids, Easter Island and many other large structures around the world. I believed in the Illuminati and that the Templar Knights moved to America after they were banished from Europe around the year 1000 CE (I think that's the right year).
The psychology of conspiracy theories is a slowly growing field and I am interested in anything you guys may know about the subject. What makes these ideas so attractive? Psychological studies have shown that conspiracy theorists normally don't just subscribe to one conspiracy but rather believes in a web of them, like I used to.
Michael Wood has shown in his study "What about Building 7?" that conspiracy theorists don't necessarily argue about their own personal opinions in what happened but rather are more willing to argue about the deception of the "official story". Then in another study by Michael Wood "Dead or Alive" showed a positive correlation in contradicting ideas with conspiracy theorists. Meaning that if one is readily going to accept a conspiracy theory on the death of Princess Diana, there was a positive correlation in thinking that she was murdered by the CIA, she was not actually dead, she was poisoned and many other contradicting conspiracies being held by one single person. This may show that conspiracy theorists tend to just want to dismiss the official story than actually having a strong opinion on what may have actually happened.
Anyone interested in the work of Michael Wood, here are links to his studies and a youtube video where he speaks about his work:
1. “What about building 7?” A social psychological study of online discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories
2. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...73612305,d.cGE
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pZc9RPNWA0