Characteristics of Conspiracy Thinking
I've been studying conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists for several years now, and here's some common thinking patterns and behaviors among conspiracy theorists I've observed:
Deciding what's objective truth based on what has narrative appeal and ego appeal, rather than what empirical evidence suggests.
Belief that you and your group are the universe's main characters (whether divinely, biologically, or otherwise ordained), and that anyone who doesn't take your side are the universe's bad guys.
Assumption that people who do or say things you perceive to be against your interests or values share the same knowledge and understanding of the world as you, and are therefore consciously choosing to act maliciously against you.
Assumption that people who express conflicting ideas are under the conspiracy's control, or aren't "real" in some way (crisis actors, robots, clones, etc).
Scapegoating easy targets (like minority groups) for problems, instead of recognizing the culpability of those who actually wield power and control resources.
Assumption that there must be a higher, secret purpose behind troubling events.
Assumption that troubling events must have been secretly orchestrated.
Belief that knowledge of sacred or occult formulas and symbols can empower one to discern the truth behind current events.
Belief that commonplace things (like pop culture media and random TikTok videos) contain hidden meanings and secret messages, which can be interpreted through sacred or occult knowledge.
Assumption that things that resemble each other must be directly related or connected.
Anomaly hunting - searching for things that seem strange or difficult to explain, and presuming they are evidence of conspiracy.
Failure to distinguish pareidolic illusions from created constructions, patterns, etc.
Perceiving conscious intent and design where none can be demonstrated to exist.
Belief that the absence of hard evidence for the conspiracy is actually evidence of the conspiracy working to hide the truth.
Belief that the conspiracy is all-pervasive, but that it can also be thwarted by invoking things like divine protection, obscure laws, etc.
Failure to understand that some amount of unlikely things are bound to happen in any circumstance, because there are many unlikely things that can potentially happen at any time.
Failure to acknowledge where the preponderance of evidence actually points.
Failure to research and test suspicions through reliable methodologies.
Refusal to accept data collected through reliable methodologies.
Feel free to copy and share this post anywhere, by the way. Just make sure you credit my blog, creature-wizard.
Also I suggest reading Debunking Denialism's post, Six Ways To Debunk Any Conspiracy Theory.
