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I was into conspiracies for a while too. They seem very real, and they do make sense. Some of them are true, like 9/11. But people think they are all false as soon as the word conspiracy theory gets thrown around.
Anyway, my point is that it's very easy to believe all of it without being sceptical, because once you lose the trust in society, you don't trust anything they say.
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. 99% of people don't believe conspiracy theories because they're dumb or mistakenly came to the wrong conclusion. They believe because it allows them to create a reality where they are a part of a chosen few who have seen the light.
I'm not so sure about that personally. People who believe in some conspiracy gets treated like idiots, so there is no payoff for them.
If they would be treated by the public like they were on to something, then maybe you could be right. But today, there is zero incentive to talk publicly about conspiracy theories. :)
Oh, but there are lots of other mechanisms. Conspiratorial Thinking (CT for short) is a complicated subject, and people who are into CT tend to have a bunch of things in common. For example, many of them suffer from anxiety, uncertainty, loneliness and many other things. Some will even show signs of sub-clinical narcissism, psychosis and paranoia.
All of that means that they tend to find CT very appealing, but it won’t really alleviate their symptoms or address any root causes. Well, some people find a sense of community in conspiracy circles, so that would help with loneliness. The sense of uncertainty can be alleviated by offering simplified (but incorrect) explanations as to how the world works. People having CT will also have a sense of being in an exclusive group since they are in possession of hidden truths. Nevertheless, CT still drives these people deeper into CT and further away from the rest of the society. This causes further alienation and anxiety.