Belief in conspiracy theories is more common than you might think. One study found roughly half of Americans believe at least one (and hey, a few past “conspiracy theories” actually proved true). This popularity is supported by biases hard-wired into us all, psychologists say, such as our tendency to look for information that confirms our beliefs and disregard information that challenges them, or the desire to find big causes for big events.That means conspiracy theories will probably always be this us to some extent, but there are also demographic and psychological factors that make it more likely people will believe in them, including: Being less educated. This one hardly needs much explaining. A desire to feel special. Those who want to stand out from the crowd (aka those with narcissistic tendencies) can adopt extreme beliefs in order to do so. Feelings of powerlessness. An explanation for events beyond a person’s control — no matter how ludicrous those explanations sound to others — can still be psychologically preferable to being the victim of blind chance or happenstance. A need for certainty. “Seeking explanations for events is a natural human desire,””explains psychology professor David Ludden. “And we don’t just ask questions. We also quickly find answers to those questions–not necessarily the true answers, but rather answers that comfort us or that fit into our worldview.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cure?? But when Kellogg School management professor Cynthia Wang and colleagues recently went searching for a way to reduce belief in conspiracy theories they found one promising technique. You can’t quickly make someone more educated or less narcissistic to inoculate them against lies, but you can encourage them to take concrete action in pursuit of their goals. That simple step, which reduces feelings of powerlessness and reinforces the link between cause and effect, seems to move the needle.Simply by prompting study participants to write about their aspirations the researchers were able to nudge people away from coming to wild-eyed conclusions when asked to evaluate fictional scenarios that might be viewed as conspiracies (for instance, a bank filing for bankruptcy). Subjects were also less likely to endorse existing conspiracy theories after focusing on how to improve their futures.“You can actually shift someone’s mindset so they see fewer conspiracies,” Wang concluded from the findings.
