“Obviously that’s not what happens at all,” he says. “In an election, if you voted for the losing candidate, that makes you feel kind of bad because it’s not what you wanted, and makes you look kind of silly, like why would you vote for the loser?” The most obvious solution to this, Brotherton argues, would be to accept your chosen candidate wasn’t so good, and consider the perspectives of your political opponents.
When Trump won, Democrats began to believe that Russians had hacked the voting machines in favour of Trump (though claims Russia manipulated the election are rooted in fact, there is no evidence they tampered with the actual count).īrotherton explains that cognitive dissonance is to blame. The night before the election, videos spread on right-wing social media profiles claiming to show that electronic voting machines were rigged to vote for Clinton. “One of the things I think that is most revealing is how quickly conspiracy fears have shifted to the left, especially in the States, since the election,” he says. And it’s not only right-wing Americans who are susceptible. Yet though the psychology behind conspiracies is timeless, Brotherton does note that certain factors exacerbate our willingness to believe. Brotherton explains, for example, that after the Watergate scandal was exposed, conspiracy theorists weren’t vindicated like you would expect – but instead believed that the official narrative was a cover-up and that Nixon was set up.Ī Pizzagate post on 4Chan, outlining alleged patterns and meanings Once these biases lead someone towards a conspiracy theory, they might develop a “conspiracy worldview”, whereby everything becomes suspicious. “Confirmation bias” also means that we accept information that confirms our beliefs and ignore that which doesn’t. Humans also have a propensity to seek patterns, so we bend over backwards to connect unrelated facts (side note: why do the two psychologists thus far in this piece have remarkably similar names? Is there a psychologist Illuminati?). Some of us can accept when this isn’t the case – when a lone gunman, for example, is responsible for assassinating the president from a grassy knoll – but others go looking for alternative explanations. The “proportionality bias” means that if something big happens, we intuitively assume that something big must have caused it. “A certain proportion of people have always been receptive to conspiracy theories.” But who are these people – and what happens to make them fervently believe in gay frogs?īrotherton emphasises that the psychological biases at work in conspiracy theorists’ minds are biases that we all possess to some extent. “Conspiracy theories are a product of our psychology and our psychology doesn’t really change over time,” says Dr Robert Brotherton, author of Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories.
Yet though social media helps conspiracies to spread, the psychology behind them is age-old. Events and Offers Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates. Ideas and Letters A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section and the NS archive, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. Weekly Highlights A weekly round-up of some of the best articles featured in the most recent issue of the New Statesman, sent each Saturday. The Culture Edit Our weekly culture newsletter – from books and art to pop culture and memes – sent every Friday. This Week in Business A handy, three-minute glance at the week ahead in companies, markets, regulation and investment, landing in your inbox every Monday morning. Green Times The New Statesman’s weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. The New Statesman Daily The best of the New Statesman, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. World Review The New Statesman’s global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. Morning Call Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. Sign up for The New Statesman’s newsletters Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive.