How Do People Form Conspiracy Theories?

People formulate conspiracy theories, because the feel the more domiannt party in their life, such as the Government, Lie to them. This stays in their mind when any new idea comes up. Associating new ideas with their current feelings of hate.

I hate the Governement(they'll think) this being between thee unconscious mind and conscious mind, Now an Idea about the man on the moon will come up, they will associate these ideas. Making some bogus ideas.

This or they just search for truth, being tossed bogus responses all the live long day. Or they need an alternet reality because they are mundane, and that is their exscape from either what they feel is lies or is just boring facts, instead of ineteresting revolts at media's bulldung.
 
Fungrim said:
There is also something else going on. Having a theory may put you ahead of competition. We all want to feel that we're special. And it is easy enough, I believe, to let that longing for attention and companionship slip into a dangerous self justification. "I know something others don't understand, therefore I'm special".
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You beat me to it. That's it in a nutshell. Without that little enorphin rush of 'knowing' almost all conspriacy theories wouldn't last more than a few minutes.

You can see it when you confront them with facts and figures. Show them debris from the plane that hit the Pentagon and they start forthing about you 'beleiving everything on CNN' and the like. Any suggestion that they may be wrong comes not from legitimate criticsm of their precious, treasured conspiracy theory is an attack from THEM.
 
I think the fascinating thing with conspiracy theories is that so many people believe them or are convinced by them to some degree.

 Yes, the paranoid/delusional probably make up a hard core of believers, but not everyone is paranoid. There must be more to it.

 People have a tendency to attribute significant causes to significant events. A woman being killed in a car crash is easy to accept as an accident; but when it’s someone like Diana, it becomes far easier to believe that something bigger was behind it than mere accident.

 If someone or something can be seen to benefit from the event, it also provides a motive for the action; thus justifying the belief in the conspiracy.

 Once a conspiracy is accepted, it’s easy to confirm the belief and reject any challenge to it as part of the conspiracy or deliberate misinformation – the unfalsifiability issue.

 Add to that logical fallacies and general mistakes in thinking and we end up with someone who has an unshakeable belief.
 
People believe in conspiracy theories because they like good stories and long for at least a few of them to actually be true. Simply put, no one wants to own up to the fact that the world can be an excruciatingly pedestrian, perfunctory, mundane, boring place.
 
Oooo, I love being asked for my free-form opinions (just don't ask for evidence) :)

I think that deciding and choosing rightly are skills or habits that are acquired over time by applying specific 'skeptical' principles.

Everyone is wrong sometimes, but most people do not make it a habit. A Conspiracy Theorist practices being wrong, and makes it a habit. It is hard to take them seriously even if they stumble across something true.

My favorite conspiracy would be one where the government encouraged and tolerated conspiracy theorists so that the damage is lessened when something really DID happen, like the 'men who stare at goats'.

A perfectly reasonable explanation that there is so much conspiracy stuff around, it that someone is benefiting economically by encouraging it. Underwater cities, ufos, homeopathy, and religion are all big money makers for someone. Follow the money and see who profits by our credulity to wackiness.
 
So, the question is, how and why do people come up with these conspiracies? I think it has something to do with seeing magic in the mundane, but there really has to be more than that.

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Probably the same way religions form. Most conspiracy people have a
religious-like fanaticism from what I have seen of them.
 
brodski said:
"well, if they" are big enough, powerful enough , and smart enough to arrange XX XX, then they must be are big enough, powerful enough , and smart enough to cover it up".

However whenever I hear of a big government Conspiracy Theory I always tell people.

"hey, I work for the government, and we're not competent to even pull that off, let alone cover it up." :D
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One of my favorites is a friend who insists that the 9/11 attack was staged, or at least allowed to happen, by our government. My usual reply is that he should think about just how many people are involved in such a coverup; and considering the fact that our government can't even keep the names of it's own CIA agents from leaking, how can they possibly manage to hide something that big?
 
I think that people come up with conspiracy theories because life is too effing easy for them. People need hardship in their lives, and if they have none, they'll create it.
 
CIA, the Illuminati and our Alien Overlords spread these "Conspiracy theories" in order to conceal their own world dominance!!1!!11oneone

<very tired. zzZZZzZZzZZZleeping time>
 
In some cases, it is simple paranoia, and the joy of 'knowing'. But it certain cases, such as Moon Hoax landers, the conspiracists have been described (by badastronomy.com posters) as being Cultural Vandals. In short, these are losers who know that in their life they are giong to make exactly zero impact, so their only hope to gain noteriety (or infamy) is to try and tear down the accomplishments of others. The more people who were involved, the better it is.
 
I don't know where these ideas come from, but it's almost human nature to blame someone you don't like when something bad happens to you and you can't find an explanation. I'm sure that's how these things get started, and then someone does mescaline to get the ball rolling.
 
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