Conspiratorial Thinking Part 1

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Unconscious, instinctive errors in thinking that cause people to misperceive objective reality and make flawed judgments. Purveyors of disinformation and conspiracy theories often target these natural vulnerabilities to make falsehoods “feel” right to an audience.

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Cognitive biases

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The mental discomfort of having a deeply held belief challenged or drawn into question by contradictory information. People often respond to this by seeking out information to ease the discomfort — even if that information is false.

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Cognitive Dissonance

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When two or more things happen at roughly the same time purely by chance but seem to have a connection.

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Coincidence

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The natural tendency of people to readily accept claims that agree with or reinforce their existing beliefs, and to find reasons to dismiss claims and evidence that contradict or complicate their beliefs in some way.

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Confirmation Bias

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Unfounded explanation of an event or situation that blames the secretive work of sinister, powerful people or organizations such as the government, a company, or even one influential personality. These explanations are easily proven false because they are based on faulty logic and reasoning and false evidence, and because other explanations already exist and are proven to be true.

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Conspiracy theory

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An online space in which only information that supports the belief is shared or repeated and any information that contradicts the belief is excluded.

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Echo Chamber

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The desire to interpret events and information in a way that builds a stable, accurate and consistent way of understanding the world, even when those interpretations might actually not be true.

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Epistemic motivation

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The need to interpret events and information in ways that make us feel safe and secure, and in control — even if that involves a belief in things that aren’t true.

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Existential motivation

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The tendency to perceive meaningful cause-and-effect patterns and other connections between unrelated events.

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Illusory Pattern Perception

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The belief that institutions like governments and corporations are always acting in dishonest ways and cannot be trusted. 

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Institutional cynicism