As far back as we can remember, people have been having these conspiracy beliefs and having these suspicions about the actions of hostile collectives of individuals. People have always believed in conspiracy theories. And so they have always been with us and to some extent, people are all, I guess you could call everybody a conspiracy theorist if you want to use that term at one point or another.Īnd so yeah, they've always been there. We don't necessarily want to trust everybody and trust everything that's happening around us. Believing in conspiracy theories and being suspicious about the actions of others is in some ways quite an adaptive thing to do. Yes, it is definitely the case that the conspiracy theories have ways being with us. Can you talk about that and how do researchers measure this?ĭouglas: Sure. Instead, you found that conspiracy theories have always thrived during times of crisis and social upheaval with examples going back as far as the burning of Rome while Nero was away, and that the last decade hasn't been particularly more conspiracy prone than the past. Mills: Some people think that the belief in conspiracy theorists has been on the rise in recent years fueled by social media, but in a paper a few years ago, you concluded that wasn't necessarily true. So something to gain from what they're doing and they usually don't have people's best interests at heart. What counts as a conspiracy theory? I gave a few examples in the introduction, but how do you define conspiracy theories in your research? What are their common characteristics?ĭouglas: Well, a conspiracy theory can normally be defined as a proposed plot carried out in secret, usually by a powerful group of people who have some kind of sinister goal. Douglas has spent more than a decade studying conspiracy theories, and she joins us to talk about their history, causes, and consequences. Karen Douglas, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent in the UK. Who is most likely to believe them and why? Is there any way to combat conspiracy theories once they're out there? And what are the consequences for individuals and societies when they spread? Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life. So how do conspiracy theories like these get started and why do they persist? In November, two candidates who voiced support for QAnon theories were elected to Congress. A September Pew Research Center survey found that more than half of Americans have heard at least a little about QAnon, the complicated web of pro-Trump conspiracy theories that originated on the message board 4chan. These aren't the only conspiracy theories making inroads right now. And some people are asserting that the virus itself was engineered by the Chinese. In January, a Wisconsin pharmacist was charged with deliberately destroying hundreds of doses of the newly available COVID 19 vaccine because he believed a conspiracy theory that the vaccine would change human DNA. Last spring, dozens of cell phone towers were set a flame across Europe, amid conspiracy theories that the 5G towers were spreading COVID-19.
Kim Mills: Over the past year as COVID-19 rocketed around the world, conspiracy theories quickly followed.
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