this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026

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Psychological traits that may fuel conspiracy theorist mindset identified (phys.org)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/world@lemmy.world

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In a new study published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, researchers identify two psychological traits common among people with a conspiracist mindset: a sense of injustice and a low tolerance of ambiguity.

The first is a low tolerance of ambiguity or TA. People with low TA find it difficult to handle stories or situations that are not abundantly clear or contain "shades of gray." They often feel anxious when a situation is unclear or random. Conspiracy theories remove this uncertainty by providing a simple, black-and-white explanation.

The second factor is a sense of injustice. People who are sensitive to perceived injustices or who believe the world is unfairly rigged against them are more likely to subscribe to conspiracy theories. The belief that someone is "pulling the strings" or controlling the situation helps them to make sense of what is going on. For these individuals, a secret plot is a more satisfying explanation than the idea that the world is simply random and complex.

The researchers also found that people who are younger, as well as those who are more religious also have a stronger conspiracist mentality.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 34 points 2 months ago (1 children)

To reach their conclusions, the study authors focused on the idea of cover-ups, the belief that organizations and governments deliberately hide the truth from the public. They surveyed 253 people from several countries, asking them to rate statements such as "politicians usually do not tell us the true motives for their decisions" and "government agencies closely monitor all citizens."

Uh...

Someone should let the researchers out of the lab occasionally...

If anyone disagreed with:

"politicians usually do not tell us the true motives for their decisions" and "government agencies closely monitor all citizens."

Then they either live in some random Nordic utopia, or they're the crazy ones.

Like, an international child rape ring involving multiple world leaders is the biggest news story of the decade, but only two people went to prison over it and one is about to get pardoned.

It's 2026 and you're crazy if you don't believe in at least one conspiracy.

[–] zd9@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The CIA in the 1950s-80s pushed the term "conspiracy theory" to mean some crazy tinfoil hat guy worried about lizard people, in order to discredit the people who were speaking out against actual shady/illegal/immoral things that the government and big business (which are basically the same thing) were doing to the American public.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 6 points 2 months ago

Yeah, I'm reading this thinking, "we're living in a flipping conspiracy..."

[–] Eternalposer@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I've heard this before. Where does this claim come from? You can find the term conspiracy theory used as early as like the 1870s.

[–] zd9@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I've seen it all over. Some examples are FBI and CIA responses to people learning about COINTELPRO, Bay of Pigs invasion, The McCarthyism era aka Red Scare, about a dozen other covert CIA and military operations, advanced research for aircraft and missiles being pushed as aliens, etc.

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I feel like you still need another leg, one of trust. I believe I have some degree of both the traits listed, and while I am trusting/naive/gullible at times, I feel you need to want those answers and to not push back on them to make it troublesome.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

So: grievance, stupidity and gullibility.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com -4 points 2 months ago

So... Morons. Cool cool.

Growing up, I heard they were born ≈1/min, and that was decades ago. Without checking Darwin Awards, etc., I'm betting they leave this timeline far more slowly.

We're fucked, then. 😅🤢🫡