-
A blog by four academic psychologists examining the psychology of conspiracy theories ...more info
-
Recent Posts
- How to dissuade parents from believing in anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories
- Introducing the Adolescent Conspiracy Beliefs Questionnaire (ACBQ)
- 5G COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and support for violence
- Coronavirus is a breeding ground for conspiracy theories – here’s why that’s a serious problem
- If others are conspiring, then why should I be well-behaved?
Archives
- February 2022
- February 2021
- June 2020
- February 2020
- December 2019
- July 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- November 2018
- April 2018
- February 2018
- October 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- August 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- May 2015
- October 2014
- June 2014
- March 2014
- January 2014
- November 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
Tags
- 9/11
- 9/11 Truth
- alex jones
- aliens
- anomaly hunting
- anti-science
- anti-vax
- apocalypse
- assassination
- beliefs
- big pharma
- bilderberg
- bush
- cialdini
- climate change
- confirmation bias
- confusion
- consequences
- conspiracy theories
- cults
- current events
- daily mail
- david icke
- dissonance
- evidence
- experimental
- exposure
- government
- gun-control
- HAARP
- health
- heuristics and biases
- HIV/AIDS
- hurricane
- influence
- influential
- Intentions
- jenny mccarthy
- JFK
- katrina
- kennedy
- Malaysia Airlines MH370
- measurement
- missing
- mossad
- muse
- news
- newtown shooting
- new world order
- obama
- olympics
- personality
- persuasion
- piers morgan
- podcasts
- politics
- postmodernism
- predictions and prophecy
- proportionality
- psychology
- republican
- research
- sales
- sandy
- sandy hook
- SGU
- social psychology
- trump
- USA
- wariness
Category Archives: World events
50 years today – 20th July 1969 – we landed on the Moon. Or, did we?
Popular conspiracy theories propose the moon landing was a hoax and the footage recorded in a Hollywood studio. An explanation for why could be that at the time, the Americans had not yet developed a safe way to get a … Continue reading
Posted in Social psychology, What's the harm, World events
5 Comments
Internet prophecy cults 101: QAnon and his predecessors
<this post is a 100%, definitely real email I recently sent that I thought I’d share> FROM: mike@conspiracypsych.com TO: operations@soros.org SUBJECT: Re: advice pls Hi George, Thanks for your email. Flattered that you thought of me – of course I … Continue reading
Posted in Biases & heuristics, Confirmation bias, Events, World events
Tagged apocalypse, nesara, predictions and prophecy, qanon, zetatalk
18 Comments
Every mass shooting produces the same conspiracy theories (more or less)
The same conspiracy theories pop up every single time there’s a mass shooting in the United States, with minimal variation. There are a couple of ways to look at this. On the one hand, maybe the conspiracy theories are right, … Continue reading
Conspiracy theories and the campaign to Leave the EU
With colleagues at the University of Kent (Prof Karen Douglas and Dr Aleksandra Cichocka), we have written a piece in The Psychologist discussing conspiracy theories and the campaign to Leave the EU. In short, we have found that belief in … Continue reading
Posted in Social psychology, What's the harm, World events
8 Comments
The great Columbia conspiracy: Why Trump and others seem to contradict themselves on Obama’s past
So, I suppose we should talk about Donald Trump at some point. Trump might just be the most famous conspiracy-monger in the world at the moment. He’s flirted with, if not outright endorsed, a wide variety of conspiracy theories, ranging … Continue reading
Posted in Social psychology, World events
Tagged conspiracy theories, obama, psychology, trump, USA
4 Comments
Intention Seekers: The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories About MS804
I wrote a post over at Psychology Today on the psychology behind conspiracy theories about airline disasters like the disappearance of MH370, and more recently, MS804. Part of the appeal, according to a handful of recent studies, may be how … Continue reading
Stress and belief in conspiracy theories
A recent a piece of research published by Viren Swami and colleagues has uncovered a link between feeling stressed and belief in conspiracy theories. Swami and colleagues gathered responses from over 400 people, where the responders completed various measures, such … Continue reading
Posted in Personality, Social psychology, What's the harm, World events
Tagged conspiracy theories, psychology, social psychology
7 Comments
What do you think happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370?
[Edit: The survey is now closed. Thanks to everyone who took part. You can read an article I wrote for New Scientist about this research by clicking here.] We are conducting a survey of people’s opinions about what happened to … Continue reading
The President is Dead: Why Conspiracy Theories About the Death of JFK Endure
November 22nd marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Over the years, numerous investigations have amassed evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin, and failed to find compelling proof that anyone else was involved. … Continue reading
Posted in Biases & heuristics, Proportionality bias, World events
Tagged JFK, kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, politics, proportionality
75 Comments
Conspiracy distractions
[I wrote this article two years ago, on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It was originally published in The Skeptic magazine.] On the morning of September 11th, 2011, New York City solemnly remembered the thousands of people who … Continue reading
The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories 