The psychological drive for structure predicts conspiracy thinking
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People who have a strong psychological need to find patterns and strict rules in their everyday lives are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. A recent study published in the journal Cognitive Processing revealed that this preference for rigid structure can lead people to accept conspiratorial ideas, even when they possess strong scientific reasoning skills. These results suggest that fact-checking alone might not be enough to change minds, as conspiracy theories offer a comforting sense of order to those who seek it.
Conspiracy theories often present straightforward explanations for chaotic global events. They tend to blame corruption or malicious intent for complex world problems. This offers a single narrative that can make the world feel easier to comprehend.
Past research has usually suggested that people fall for these theories because they lack analytical thinking skills. Psychologists have often assumed that individuals with lower levels of education or poorer critical reasoning abilities simply fail to evaluate the information they read.
But recent investigations revealed a paradox regarding people with elevated autistic traits. These individuals generally prefer analytical and logical thinking, yet previous studies showed they were actually more prone to endorsing conspiracy theories. They also exhibited a strong bias against counterevidence, meaning they struggled to change their minds when presented with facts that debunked their beliefs.
Neophytos Georgiou, a psychology researcher at Flinders University in Australia, wanted to understand this contradiction. Georgiou and his team suspected that a specific cognitive trait, rather than a lack of intelligence, was driving this vulnerability.
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