Conspiracies and Neurotiscism

This topic is going to require some introspection.

I'd like to discuss the mindset of a conspiracy theorist.

What are the defining traits of a conspiracy theorist? What do people think of us?

Tinfoil hat. Doom posting. Chicken Little, the sky is falling mentality.

Got me thinking, Could it be that all the doom posting and sky is falling talk, jumping to wild conclusions and heavy skepticism is a breeding ground for neurotiscism and paranoia?

What does that do to the mind?

Do we take this knowledge and share with everyone like Prometheus or do we use our eccentric viewpoints to belittle others?

Are we unnecessarily stressing ourselves out, is what I want to get to the bottom of.

What I found is not just traits of a conspiracy theorist but motivation as well.

www.truity.com...

Conspiracy theorists have 3 major motivations.

1. A desire to understanding their environment.

2. Desire for superiority.

3. Paranoia and antagonism.

“Some personality types are indeed more inclined to believe in conspiracies,” explains Esmaeilpour. “Traits such as high openness to experience might lead to a curiosity for alternative explanations, while high levels of neuroticism could contribute to the anxiety and paranoia that make conspiracy theories appealing.”

Of course, it doesn’t end there. That is because there is something fundamentally antagonistic about refusing to go along with the mainstream. Indeed, people who relish playing the contrarian in social settings will naturally find themselves drawn to conspiracy theories."

These are common personality traits that fail in line with narcissists as well.

This brings me to quality. The quality of our conspiracies has been in decline for about 10 years now.

I came to the site long ago looking for Alchemy, Aliens and JFK. And in 10 years, conspiracies have turned from, God sent the Hurricanes to punish the sinners to, the Democrats sent the Hurricanes to punish the voters.

I believe Alan Moore, who created V for Vendetta and wrote a book about the CIA, Brought to Light, said it best:

"The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory.

The truth is far more frightening - Nobody is in control.

The world is rudderless."

Experiencing the current state of conspiracy theories is like watching a good friend date a narcissist. Political baiting. Motives. Versus the days of taking it with a grain of salt.

Being skeptical sounded smart and being counter culture sounded cool but now, I don't know. Maybe Alex Jones ruined it. The whole hobby seems tainted.

Along with the Alan Moore quote, this song made me rethink conspiracy theories:

youtu.be...

a reply to: TinfoilTophat

Well presented Tinfoil.

I think that Moore quote is a pretty good summation. It is a very difficult belief with very little comfort about it.

a reply to: TinfoilTophat

I don't consider myself a conspiracy theorist.
I don't believe in any of them.

I study them, ponder them, analyze them, contemplate them, and look at them from various angles.
They are stories.
Many folks believe in stories, including most of what we call genuine knowledge.
That's one of the reasons I investigate stories.

What do they teach in Elementary school ? Stories.
What is this site, the internet, and the world full-of? Stories.

Folks make the leap-of-faith, and believe in some of these stories.
That's why I am interested in why folks believe in the things they do.
But I need to read between the words, because folks get angry if their beliefs are challenged.
To them it's not a belief : it's knowledge.

History = His Story.


We see the marionettes dancing about, and we see the strings.
Just cause we can't see who is pulling the strings, doesn't mean nobody is.

I think the definition of conspiracy theorist has changed. It use to be "people who believe in the weird stuff" and now it's "anybody who has knowledge past the news headline". According to some, if you even question the official story, you're a crazy conspiracy nutjob.

I've given up on UFOs. I personally think there is something out there and having been interested in them for decades, I think I have enough information to make that decision. The govt is no help. For 80 + years they've went from "just lights in the sky" to showing the tic tac video, but the excuse stays the same "We don't know". They could have Congressional investigations and a 2 hour press conference, but their who spiel can be boiled down to those 3 words.

If they've been investigating something for that long and still don't know what it is, that leads me to one conclusion :

They are massively incompetent or they're lying.

We all know which it is.

a reply to: KnowItAllKnowNothin

I think you make a good point about belief.
As well, your bit about marionettes. It's much easier to see the strings that are pulling others than the ones that are pulling us. It's close if not the same as the Biblical teaching about the moat in the eye. And that, I think is central to the point OP made about discussing conspiracy yet needing some introspection to guide it.

Conspiracy theory cultist need the confirmation bias they get from sites that cater to their particular conspiracies.

Then some business will offer something to help relieve their anxiety. Others will clamber for donations to save the status quo..... Doin business the American way thru fear. It's a proven marketing tactic.

bettermarketing.pub...


Neurotics buy stuff all the time.

It's when CTist become obsessive that imagined delusions morph into emotional disorders needing professional care.

www.psychiatry.org...

a reply to: BingoMcGoof

Great insight Ter !

Perhaps a man whom does not see the strings on the marionettes, will never have a chance of seeing his own strings ?

Might it be easier for old hats like us who have seen them strings on others for so long, that has helped us over the years to see the strings pulling on us as well ?

We can see it in the new stories, that are attempting to pull us in whatever direction.
Much more difficult to spot the ones that are deeply incrusted, and for decades. I agree.

But that's why we're both here, isn't it ?

a reply to: KnowItAllKnowNothin

Yep. I could be hanging out on a site where most people agree with how I see things, right or wrong, but here this is not the case. It's holding up my thoughts on things to an adversarial crowd that helps keep me , at least, trying to be honest with myself.

Honestly, OPs original mention of self refection sent me back to my youth, searching for whatever it might have been that I slipped into that set me on this tangent. All the books back then by Orwell, Huxley, Wells, etc were important sure, but this morning I found, way back in my memories store, that Frost poem '' The Road Not Taken''

The sensations surfaced of what choice to make, looking down those paths where there was no end in sight only the trodden leaves to tell the difference. So similar and both, though of course there were so many others not mentioned, holding the promise of a future.

Taking that road less traveled was for me like Frost, the choice to make and i think that at least to some degree, essential to this question of what is some of the core of being into conspiracy. This then leads me into the notion that this road less traveled has become a thoroughfare, a boulevard nay, an eight lane autobahn.

a reply to: TinfoilTophat
NO! What you have parroted is the new mainstream debunking/ridiculing of conspiracy theorists. Your 3 motivations miss the target completely, ie. a conspiracy theorist believes his theory is correct/true and he pushes his theory to others to enlighten them of his, what he believes is fact. But you have fallen to the MSM propaganda of all conspiracy theories are false and flights of fancy or paranoia. BUT, if you've been on ATS for a number of years you will find that there are quite a number of conspiracy theories that were not theories but true.
Just because there are numerous idiotic/wild/paranoiac theories (I think that the majority of those are part of a discrediting operation... there's a conspiracy theory for you) does not mean all theories are fanciful/wrong, but the MSM are now pushing that meme big time now, especially coming to the election. Are you gonna wait for the election interference theory to be ridiculed and believe it because they say so.

Lots of Conspiracy Theories are presented purposely to be so bizarre, nobody will believe it. Many of those are real and the conspiracy is designed to be covered up. 😁

a reply to: TinfoilTophat

I believe Alan Moore, who created V for Vendetta and wrote a book about the CIA, Brought to Light, said it best:

"The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory.

The truth is far more frightening - Nobody is in control.

The world is rudderless."

That conclusion is rudderly preposterous. (sorry, had to do it)

Inevitably, the conspiracy lens must be focused inward to be sure exactly where in reality the skeptic is seated, relative to the phenomenon being dissected. How can you know the enemy if you don't know yourself?

a reply to: TinfoilTophat

I listen to conspiracy theories because I don't like to listen to lies.

a reply to: TinfoilTophat

As a proud conspiracy theorist, I take issue with the assumption that being a conspiracy theorist is the result of some mental disorder. For most of my life, I wasn't a conspiracy theorist. That changed when I leaned that the CIA was, in fact, importing drugs into the US. I had to ask why no one was held accountable. That's what got me started.

But if you want to denigrate conspiracy theorists, you should start with the largest group of conspiracy theorists out there: prosecuting attorneys. They constantly come up with theories about people conspiring to commit crimes. Do prosecuting attorneys, on average, have higher than normal rates of mental disorders?

Let's take a look:

"Conspiracy theorists have 3 major motivations.

1. A desire to understanding their environment.

2. Desire for superiority.

3. Paranoia and antagonism."

When it comes to prosecutors, #2 & #3 certainly apply. #1, not so much. For me, #1 applies, #2 & #3 not so much, except for the paranoia. But I was paranoid long before I became a conspiracy theorist.

What I think is most important is clearly defining the term conspiracy theorist. Believing in Bigfoot or UFOs is not a conspiracy theory. Believing there is a coordinated coverup to discredit people who believe in Bigfoot or UFOs is a conspiracy theory.

Believing that people conspire to do things is not a mental disorder, it's reality. We see it all the time, and with the internet, we see it more and more often.

To me, believing there are no conspiracies out there would be the result of a mental disorder of some sort. Especially when it comes to government and politics. Can anyone out there honestly say that certain "news" outlets aren't conspiring to promote certain politicians while disparaging others?

a reply to: VictorVonDoom

I would go even further and argue that it's not healthy to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society, and those who believe every word the MSM says are just as, if not more, mentally unstable than those people who believe every conspiracy they read about.

I 100% disagree with the 3 major motivations. Superiority......hardly. Paranoia, nope.

Independent, logical, studier..... those for sure. Because as many have posted, there are many conspiracy theories that are facts, NOT theories. And when you've been the butt or guinea pig of a supposed theory, you realize that many theories do in fact exist as real events. And when you see the same actions happening over and over by the same organizations, the base for distrust is established.

I believe the 'paranoia' is assigned to many because of the passion and enthusiasm many 'theorists' put behind their beliefs against the repeated dishonesty of agencies pushing their lies.

a reply to: TinfoilTophat

Not the kind of thread one expects to find on this website nowadays, when nearly all traces of scepticism have been abandoned in favour of group feelz, while the embrace of spurious 'proofs' is treated as a test of faith and belonging.

I'd like to discuss the mindset of a conspiracy theorist.

I have been interested in conspiracy theories and those who believe in them for a very long time. I don't believe the theories and never have; but I used to find them entertaining, and enjoyed riling up their adherents and debunking their silly 'proofs'. I have been a member here for many years (under a different name) and for most of that time I regarded conspiracy theories and theorists as nothing but a source of rather cruel entertainment.

In 2016, with the advent of Trump and the huge popularity of his conspiracy-theory-driven politics, I realised that, in addition to being both false and foolish, conspiracy theories could also be dangerous -- not only to those who believe them, but also, as we saw during the pandemic, to the general public as well.

I no longer find conspiracy theories and theorists funny. Rather, I have struggled mightily to understand them.

The question that most troubled me was this. How do conspiracy theorists, whose beliefs colour their entire lives, manage to preserve their sanity (or appear to at least) from day to day? It didn't seem possible to me that someone who believed (for example) that vaccines contain microchips or that hurricanes can be artificially steered could still function as a normal human being in society, even when their special beliefs aren't being triggered. But they do, all the time. How come?

Now I no longer find it mysterious at all. I've stopped seeing conspiracy theorists as nuts. I think I've figured them out. Before I explain, though, I'd like to answer a few of your questions. I shan't be pulling any punches, and I don't expect anyone here to like my answers, but they are what I believe to be the truth.

I'll start here:

What are the defining traits of a conspiracy theorist?

You provided some answers of your own:

1. A desire to understanding their environment.

2. Desire for superiority.

3. Paranoia and antagonism.

I'm not sure how helpful this really is. The man or woman who doesn't want to understand their surroundings has never been born. The people who speak of 'sheep' who unquestioningly believe whatever they're told have no understanding of psychology.

A desire for superiority may not be quite as universal, but most of us possess a competitive instinct, so there's really nothing special about conspiracy theorists in this regard, either.

As for paranoia and antagonism, how do we account for all the aggressive paranoiacs who aren't conspiracy theorists?

My answers are different. These, to me, are the defining traits of the conspiracy theorist:

1. A committed belief in something for which there is no substantial evidence.
2. A compulsion to 'prove' this belief and apply it to every aspect of life.
3. A hostile response to any attempt by others to disprove the belief.

What do people think of conspiracy theorists?

I cannot speak for others. I think of conspiracy theorists as people who have experienced failure in coping with their lives or fulfilling their ambitions, and seek to create a world wherein they can do better for themselves.

Could it be that all the doom posting and sky is falling talk, jumping to wild conclusions and heavy skepticism is a breeding ground for neurotiscism and paranoia?

No, I don't. Neurotics and paranoiacs are simply people who are so troubled in their minds that their efforts to cope with life are situationally inappropriate and look crazy to others. Such people are drawn to conspiracy theories for the same reasons others are (see above). Maybe they account for a disproportionate number of believers, but I don't think belief in conspiracy theories breeds neuroticism or paranoia; it just brings out what's already there.

Maybe people who have embraced the they're-out-to-get-you political narratives of people like Marx, Hitler and Trump do become more paranoid as a result. This seems reasonable to expect, but I haven't seen any trustworthy research on it. Most of the psychological and sociological research on conspiracy theories and conspiracy believers seems to be barking up the wrong tree anyway.

Do we take this knowledge and share with everyone like Prometheus or do we use our eccentric viewpoints to belittle others?

One thought that's popped up recently in the scientific literature is that most conspiracy theories aren't trying to explain and spread their beliefs to non-believers but to justify their own beliefs and reinforce the faith of others who share them: to create, in other words, a safe space for themelves (another term for this is 'a cult'). This conforms precisely to what I have seen here on ATS. No-one really cares a damn about persuading others. No-one cares to meet sceptics halfway, to offer evidence of a kind that might persuade an uncommitted but educated and well-informed person; instead, you offer 'proofs' that only another believer can accept. You form defensive forts and entrenchments among yourselves, walling off your communities of belief (I almost said 'of faith') to prevent sceptics and rationalists entering the sacred space and spoiling the feelz. I confess that I used to enjoy threatening those defences and seeing the reaction.

So here's what I think makes a conspiracy theorist: disappointment due to lack of success in life (success defined in any way that is meaningful to the person themselves), frustration at that failure, refusal to accept responsibility for it and a powerful need to find something or someone else to blame it on. Plus one more trait: a failure to find consolation in organised religion or other conventional explanatory narratives, such as science, philosophy, art or politics.

Which brings me to my explanation for conspiracy theories, and for why people can believe even the most bizarre and obviously false narratives (that Earth is flat, for example) without being declared insane by clinicians.

Conspiracy theories are just substitutes for conventional religion

The reality is that all religious people are conspiracy theorists, only the 'conspiracy' they believe in is some well-established narrative with a large number of believers. The truths of religion are no more and no less frankly bizarre than conspiracy theories -- a man parting the ocean with a wave of his staff, for instance, or another man flying hundreds of miles across the Middle East on a horse, or a third man ascending to heaven in a chariot of fire. And how about a God who sacrificed himself to himself to save a world He could just as easily have saved by merely saying 'Thou art saved'? Belief in the Illuminati seems almost sensible in comparison to all that!

I conclude my post by endorsing the great and enduring truth you quoted.

Conspiracy theorists believe in conspiracies because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. Nobody is in control.

a reply to: BingoMcGoof

Let's take a step back, and look at the landscape, shall we ?
A map.

Right there in the middle, is Normieville.
All of the regular folks hustle and bustle around, getting things done, motivated and determined.
Chasing carrots continuously.
We see them lining-up regularly at Baa-Baa park, for their regular fleecing.
It's good for us, and our loving society does it for our own good.

You've noticed the trails leading in and out of Normieville, have grown over the years into autoroutes.
In the nearby surrounding lowlands, lay the Conspiracy institutions.
Highway access, big parking-lots, souvenir shops, and strong affluence.
Like : Infowars, JRE, Natural-News, Mercola, etc...

We watch many leave the friendly confines of Normieville, just to visit these biggies, then they drive right back to Normieville.
The farther we look away, the autoroutes wean down to boulevards and 2-lane highways, as there are less and less travelers, and less stops along the way.

A dirt trail leads way out into the hinterlands, and there a beautiful massive mountain.

Look !
On a rough old goat-trail, halfway up the mountain : it's Bingo !
Hi Bingo !

There : on another sketchy goat-trial : crazy old KnowItAllKnowNothin !
Hi KIAKN !

Yet the old goats are able to see each-other, and a few other goats, and have a great view of the lay of the land.
These roads less travelled have a great view !

originally posted by: xuenchen
Lots of Conspiracy Theories are presented purposely to be so bizarre, nobody will believe it. Many of those are real and the conspiracy is designed to be covered up. 😁

That's exactly it. The CIA and other government entities had many secrets to protect, and many of their "escapades" were, and still are illegal, so when people ask too many questions, they are ridiculed as wacko conspiracy theorists. The worst offenders of US laws use the term the most often to describe their accusers, like for example Hillary Clinton.

originally posted by: DAVID64
They are massively incompetent or they're lying.
We all know which it is.

Some, are lying only about their competence.
And it is they and not those who question them that share the traits laid out by the OP source.

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: TinfoilTophat
NO! What you have parroted is the new mainstream debunking/ridiculing of conspiracy theorists.

Totally agree about MSM propaganda. It exists to promote the idea the 'official story' is always true and anything else is as crazy as people who question everything,

Of course, you and I live in the UK, where it is now possible to go to prison for publishing anything that might be considered as anti-establishment, ie., whatever challenges official narratives.