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The marginalized are much more susceptible to conspiracy delusion
conspiracy mania
The conspiracy believers' milieu is called "Lunatic Fringe" in the US: This crazy edge believes the moon landing never happened, the CIA would hide evidence of extraterrestrials in New Mexico, contrails of airplanes are chemtrails, or measles vaccinations would trigger autism.
In such streaks in the sky, conspiracy whistles hallucinate "chemtrails," which scare secret conspirators to poison humans. (KAWEST / fotolia.com) Secret forces in the background
However, it is not typical for these conspiracy ideologists that they simply believe in obvious mischief. Rather, they are convinced that secret forces are behind a variety of happenings and realize a big plan.
The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"
The idea that a small group of conspirators are leading world affairs by filthy methods found its most devastating expression in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," an important work of modern anti-Semitism, and thus a source of Auschwitz.
Jews, lizardmen and Merkel
Jews were one of the most popular objects for conspiracy fantasies, but also reptiles who unknowingly find themselves weaving their intrigues or Nazis who had survived the war under Antarctica. At the moment, right-wing conspiracy fan Angela Merkel is considered responsible for every alleged evil.
search for meaning
Damaris Gräupner and Alin Coman of Princeton University have now found out what drives conspiracy thinking - searching for meaning.
Excluded find meaning in life
People who feel socially isolated are increasingly looking for meaning in their lives. But because they feel excluded, they also seek a cause for being excluded.
Magic thinking
Conspiracy fantasies are magical thinking in that they suggest unconditional causality between unrelated things.
Prejudice is the father of thought
Above all, conspirators have prejudices against people to whom they attribute a high status in society: politicians or very wealthy people.
Random patterns become related
Then they would place random patterns in a context that does not exist. In the 1980s, for example, the conspiracy theory was widespread that Philip Morris' support for KuKluxKlan was that the red and white patterns on the Marlboro box were three Ks.
The outsider study
First, the researchers examined 119 people for how excluded they feel. The subjects had to describe an unpleasant situation in which friends had been involved. The scientists asked how excluded they felt.
The question of meaning
The next question was how much they longed for meaning, examining, for example, with statements to the statement: "I am looking for a life purpose or purpose".
The question of conspiracies
In Part Three, scientists subtly asked for willingness to accept conspiracy theories, such as whether and how the government was trying to manipulate citizens through messages below conscious perception.
Excluded in the wake of the conspiracy fantasy
The more excluded the participants felt in the situation described, the more they sought meaning in life and the more they were taken by conspiracy theories.
A second study
Gräupner and Coman reviewed the results in a second study. For this they asked 102 test persons in groups of three in the laboratory.
They had to describe themselves at first, the researchers claimed that these statements, the teams would decide who they wanted to have with them. In fact, the researchers determined the teams.
Result: Those who were not included in the team felt excluded and increasingly sought meaning.
Who believes in the plot?
Afterwards, the researchers presented three situations and asked the participants, whether the luck or misfortune of the main character had come about through a secret conspiracy. And the result was that the non-team members believed much more in a conspiracy than the elected.
Integration decides
The scientists drew a conclusion for society: Those who feel marginalized can fall into conspiracy fantasies and thus limit themselves even further.
The marginalized meet the marginalized
Once these people, who feel marginalized, have reached the margins of society, they encounter people who have the same problem.
Conspiracy theories are confirmed
They are now mutually reinforcing their superstition of the secret mastermind behind terrorist attacks or vaccination programs that people are supposed to program in terms of a secret elite.
What helps?
Conspiracy theories run according to Coman in a vicious circle of exclusion. One possibility would be to involve those affected purposefully in society again.
A new study would be important in helping consumers of pseudomedicine and placebos not recognized as such to be generally susceptible to conspiracy delusions. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)