1

Running head: MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, &

PSYCHOLOGY

Accumulation & Current Understanding Regarding the Modern Conspiracy Theory Concept,

Culture, & Psychology

Bryan Culler

Appalachian State University

Author Note

Bryan Culler, Appalachian State University

Research supported in part by Mr. Benjamin Good

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Bryan Culler at

cullerbm@appstate.edu
 2

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

This paper discusses 8 sources related to the current knowledge available regarding modern

conspiracy theories. The articles have found it difficult to label conspiracy theories with a

perfect dictionary definition and that it has evolved with the times, especially since the invention

of the internet now that finding, sharing, and spreading information has become much easier.

The articles explained very eclectic motivations, factors, and biases that might make a person

believe a conspiracy theory but also warned that there is not enough attention given to the

potential consequences of mere exposure to such theories.

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

Accumulation & Current Understanding Regarding the Modern Conspiracy Theory Concept,

Culture, & Psychology

‘Conspiracy’ is a word that strikes immediate interest to a listener. The modern

conspiracy theory has heavy connotations of scandal as well as a generally bizarre & outlandish

nature. As a result, people everywhere are drawn to conspiracy theories for various motivations

ranging from genuine interest to just the sake of a laugh. Simply googling the term ‘conspiracy

theory’ prompts over 10 million results (Brotherton, 2013). Research into modern conspiracy

theory culture suggests that it has evolved dramatically since the creation of the internet to

become as popular and influential as it is today.

A conspiracy theory could be loosely defined as an accusation that two or more persons

have committed a crime together. However, what actually constitutes the idea of a conspiracy

theory goes much further than that and is itself a topic of debate in psychology, sociology, and

political science (Thresher-Andrews, 2013). People have an apparent understanding of the

concept of conspiracy theories and are generally able to easily identify and distinguish a

‘conspiracy theory’ from other theorized conspiracies. However, actually attempting to notate a

dictionary definition of the term consistently fails to capture the nuanced meaning that is

commonly understood (Brotherton, 2013). It is more accurate, according to Brotherton, to take

into account the typical characteristics of a conspiracy theory. Among most conspiracy theories,

Brotherton noted that these characteristics tend to be present: they are unverified claims, less

plausible alternatives to mainstream explanations, and sensationalistic in nature. They assume

that everything is intended & they also assume unusually malicious intent. They also have low
 4

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

standards of evidence & are epistemically self-insulated against questioning or correction

(Brotherton, 2013).

Though developing a totally accurate definition for conspiracy theories is still a matter of

debate today, the concept of conspiracy theories has existed since the earliest parts of modern

civilization. Thresher-Andrews’ (2013) article cited one of the earliest cases coming from first

century AD. In this conspiracy the Roman Emperor Nero accused Christians as being

responsible for the Great Fire of Rome. Conspiracy theories have since then only continued to

exist and develop, especially in the United States. At the time of its own founding the preacher

Reverend Jedidiah Morse discussed ‘secret and systematic means’ by ‘impious conspirators’ in

in one of his sermons. Since then there has only been a rise of ‘movements of suspicious

discontent’ (Thresher-Andrews, 2013). This rise spiked with the invention of the internet as

people were more willing and had more opportunity to create, research, & share conspiracy

theories, allowing them to propagate and become more mainstream than ever before

(Thresher-Andrews, 2013). Even more recently a new, specific type of conspiracy theory has

arisen known as “the ‘staged hoax’ or ‘crisis actor’ conspiracy theory, which contends that major

events are in fact elaborate hoaxes” (Wood, 2013, p. 32). Wood provided the example of the

Sandy Hook school shooting of 2013 when conspiracy theorists claimed that the shooting had

never taken place and that the people who were interviewed and put on television were actually

professional actors hired to give the appearance that the tragic event had occurred.

Such outlandish claims have resulted in an increasing interest in conspiracy theory

psychology. Some of the first studies of belief in conspiracy theories were correlational studies

based on the relationship between belief in conspiracy theories and various personality traits. It
 5

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

was found that there were positive correlations for openness to experience, political cynicism,

and paranormal beliefs. The results also yielded negative correlations for level of trust in others,

self-esteem, and agreeableness. This correlational approach did not provide any distinctively

causal results but provided decent foundation for early study of the concept (Lantian, 2013).

Interestingly, according to Jolley (2013) there has yet to be any research that supports

demographic variables (gender, age, education, occupation) as reliable predictions of belief in

conspiracy theories. This may suggest that based on motivation and/or circumstance, everyone

is susceptible to conspiracy theories, which would explain how they became so popular (Jolley,

2013).

There are several potential motivations for a conspiracy theorist, but in Ludden’s (2018)

article “Why Do People Believe in Conspiracy Theories?” he noted that researchers found that

these motivations “can be grouped into three categories: the desire for understanding and

certainty, the desire for control and security, and the desire to maintain a positive self-image”

(Ludden, 2018, p. 1). The ‘staged hoax’ theory mindset mentioned earlier provides a good

example for the desire for understanding and certainty taken to the extreme. Not only does this

mindset claim that significant world events are simply hoaxes, it claims that such events occur

because “some near-omnipotent controllers want them to, every aspect of how they are viewed,

perceived, and interpreted, from top to bottom, is controlled as well” (Wood, 2013, p. 33).

There is also a sort of comfort in believing that such a horrible event like the mass murder of

schoolchildren had never occured at all in reality (Wood, 2013). This psychological comfort also

pools into the second motivation, desire for control and security, in the sense that our children

are not really in any danger at school because we have institutions in place to keep them safe.
 6

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

The third motivation of conspiracy theories, provide an outlet for maintaining a positive

self-image, is mentioned in Thresher-Andrews’ (2013) “An introduction into the world of

conspiracy” where he noted that conspiracy theories give people a chance to reassert their

individualism when they are dissatisfied with their place in society. In Douglas, Sutton, &

Cichocka’s (2017) “The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories” they weighed in on this motivation

by stating that believing conspiracy theories allows you to become a part of the ‘in-group’ with

an alternative account of events by allowing blame for negative outcomes to be attributed to

other people or groups.

By looking at conspiracy theory rhetoric, research has also claimed that there are several

cognitive biases at work in conspiracy theory psychology. These biases include a proportionality

bias, “the idea that large significant events have large significant causes;” an attribution bias, “a

tendency to overestimate the effect of dispositional factors,” especially when trying to estimate

the intentions of others; and confirmation bias, “beliefs and ideas that are consistent with one’s

own ideas tend to be reinforced while alternative ideas are downplayed or ignored”

(Thresher-Andrews, 2013, p. 7). These biases are well illustrated in Viren Swami’s 2012

research article that discussed two studies on correlation for belief in a Jewish conspiracy theory

among Malays in Malaysia, the first study involved a measure of belief in the conspiracy theory

with measurements of general conspiracist ideation and anomie. The second study involved the

same measure of belief in the conspiracy theory with measurements of general conspiracist

ideation and ideological attitudes. As a result of comparing the two experiments, Swami

suggested that belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory was associated with anti-Israeli attitudes,

modern racism, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation. Preconceived

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

biases and notions regarding the subject(s) of the conspiracy had a significant impact on

participants’ willingness to believe the conspiracy (Swami 2012). The measurement in both

studies regarding general conspiracist ideation did not yield significant results as a predictor once

all the other variables were accounted for. There was an interesting significance of bias

compared to an insignificance of general conspiracist ideation (Swami 2012).

While there is an increasing interest in the psychology of conspiracy theory as well as the

concept as a whole, there is also research that asks whether or not conspiracy theories are

inherently good or bad. In Jolley’s (2013) “The detrimental nature of conspiracy theories” he

noted that though there may be several negative signs, there are also some noteworthy positives:

conspiracy theories give people the power to reveal inconsistencies, anomalies, or ambiguities in

official accounts of events; they also provide challenges to social hierarchy and boost

government transparency; they also may appeal to creative, curious, or open-minded people.

Unfortunately, while those are all nice perks, Jolley also mentioned various consequences to

even being exposed to conspiracy theory arguments. Jolley argued that while there has been

abundant research on who believes conspiracy theories and why, there hasn’t been much

attention given to the potential consequences of such theories. He detailed how conspiracy

theories have been shown to impact one’s beliefs, attitudes, and behavioural intentions (Jolley,

2013). This claim is supported by Lantian’s (2013) reference to a study about the conspiracy

theories relative to the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales. This study showed that by simply

reading statements about these conspiracy theories, the evidence resulted in an increase in the

level of belief in the conspiracy theory regarding her death. Lantian also argued that people

underestimate the extent that exposure to conspiracy theories can influence them (Lantian 2013).
 8

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

Jolley referenced the same study related to the conspiracy revolving around Princess Diana’s

death and added that participants in the study “were unaware of the change in their conspiracy

endorsement” (Jolley, 2013, p. 35). This addition makes the danger of exposure more clear with

the understanding that you wouldn’t necessarily notice that you had been affected by the

conspiracy theory at all. Jolley later cited a study that found that people who were exposed to a

film highlighting conspiracy theories surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination

endorsed the conspiracy more so than those not yet shown the film. Possibly even more

concerningly, the increased conspiracy endorsement was associated with lesser intention to vote

(Jolley 2013). They became less motivated to participate in politics as a result of feelings of

political powerlessness just from exposure to the conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theories also

pose significant potential threat to health. The belief that vaccines can be dangerous is

increasingly popular possibly contributing to the decrease in vaccinations. According to Jolley

research has also shown that endorsement of birth control and HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories,

which claim that HIV/AIDS are a form of genocide against African Americans, has resulted in

growing negative attitudes towards contraceptives, potentially resulting in an increase in

unintended pregnancies as well as the spread of STDs (Jolley, 2013). In addition to this, further

conspiracy theory endorsement has shown association to mistrust in science such as disbelief in

climate change and other established scientific findings such as smoking causes lung cancer. He

admits that this is mere speculation but it suggests a daunting answer (Jolley, 2013). Though

there is definitely some potential good resulting from conspiracy theory culture, it could also be

argued that the potential bad may outweigh the positives.

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

Study and research regarding conspiracy theories still have a great deal of potential to

advance. We still cannot know for certain whether conspiracy theories bring more positive or

negative attributes to our society. But there’s still much research to be done, especially when

you consider how many new conspiracy theories are crafted everyday in this tech-savvy day &

age.
 10

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

References

Brotherton, R. (2013). Towards a definition of ‘conspiracy theory,’. ​Psychology

Postgraduate Affairs Group, (88), 9-13. Retrieved from

http://www.psypag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Issue-88.pdf

Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The psychology of conspiracy

theories. Retrieved from

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0963721417718261

Jolley, D. (2013). The detrimental nature of conspiracy theories. ​Psychology Postgraduate

Affairs Group, (88), 35-38. Retrieved from

http://www.psypag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Issue-88.pdf

Lantian, A. (2013). A review of different approaches to study belief in conspiracy theories.

Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group, (88), 19-20. Retrieved from

http://www.psypag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Issue-88.pdf

Ludden, D. (2018, January 06). Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? Retrieved

from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-apes/201801/why-do-people-belie

ve-in-conspiracy-theories
 11

MODERN CONSPIRACY THEORY CONCEPT, CULTURE, & PSYCHOLOGY

Swami, V. (2012, July 20). Social psychological origins of conspiracy theories: the case of

the Jewish conspiracy theory in Malaysia. Retrieved from

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00280/full

Thresher-Andrews, C. (2013). An introduction into the world of conspiracy. ​Psychology

Postgraduate Affairs Group, (88), 5-8. Retrieved from

http://www.psypag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Issue-88.pdf

Wood, M. (2013). Has the internet been good for conspiracy theorising? ​Psychology

Postgraduate Affairs Group, (88), 31-33. Retrieved from

http://www.psypag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Issue-88.pdf