CONSPIRACY THEORIES

WHAT IS IT?
To understand why people believe in these fantastical stories that seem to be
absolutely absurd and poor in arguments, we first need to understand the meaning
of a conspiracy theory and why are they created for.
SCIENTIFIC VIEW
A conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event or situation that invokes a
conspiracy by sinister and powerful actors, often political in motivation, when other
explanations are more probable. The term has a pejorative connotation, implying
that the appeal to a conspiracy is based on prejudice or insufficient evidence.
Conspiracy theories resist falsification and are reinforced by circular reasoning: both
evidence against the conspiracy and an absence of evidence for it, are re-
interpreted, as evidence of its truth, and the conspiracy becomes a matter of faith
rather than proof.
COLOQUIAL VIEW
Science and etymology might have defined a conspiracy theory as an event with an
improbable explanation without significant evidence. At the other hand, people who
believes them, usually interpratate it as an explanation with significant evidence that
is, withheld by an organization. Generally, with an economical purpose with a relation
with politics, at the same time a conspiracy theory have an impact in the people´s
ideology to obtain its purpose, and to make the person to spread it.

CHARACTERISTICS
Conspiracy theories are based in three aspects:
 CONSEQUENTIAL: They are considered to be consequential as they
have a real impact and health relationships and safety, believing in this
philosophical currents may have a great impact in the person’s integrity
 UNIVERSAL: The second aspect is that they are widespread all among
countries, cultures and religions.
 EMOTIONAL: They are considered emotional because they cause
negative emotions and not rational deliberations.
 WHO BELIEVES CONSPIRACY THEORIES?

TYPES OF PERSON
Extremist Person:
Is a person that supports an idea, cause, set of values, an ideology, etc. Using
violence as a first method to justify their thinking and their actions. They typically
convince themselves that their particular strain is not “extreme” and is the only
rational course
For example the movement propelled by Hitler in the middle age in Europe, where
he killed almost six millions of Jews.
Paranoid Person:
A paranoid person is one who has a total distrust of all people, things.
The paranoid person in this case tends to think that everyone is criticizing he/her
thanks to her way of thinking or what she believe. It is necessary to clarify that a
paranoid person when he really believes in something becomes almost impossible
to get that idea out of his head.
Out of place person:
An out of place person is one who, in completely random moments, decides to
disobey rules, generate ideas that are completely inconsistent and that of course
have no relation to what they were doing or what he was talking about.

But what relationship do these three people have already mentioned with conspiracy
theories?
Simple, Harvard University showed that if a person is a believer or addicted to
conspiracy theories, he necessarily shares one or more of the characteristics
mentioned above,
So if you are a believer in a conspiracy theory it is almost 100% that you suffer from
any disorder mentioned. So be careful

CHARACTERISITCS
Even though it´s true that, a conspiracy theory is created and built in order for anyone
to believe it, it´s the decision of the people who heard them to believe them or treat
them as the conspiracy that they are.
 PSYCOLOGY
New research by Josh Hart, associate professor of psychology, suggests that people
with certain personality traits and cognitive styles are more likely to believe in
conspiracy theories. Josh Hart considers that these people tend to be more
suspicious, untrusting, eccentric, needing to feel special, with a tendency to regard
the world as an inherently dangerous place. They are also more likely to detect
meaningful patterns where they might not exist. People who are reluctant to believe
in conspiracy theories tend to have the opposite qualities.

CAUSES
For a person to believe that a conspiracy theory is true, there are different aspects
that have an influence in a person reasoning and mentality. Following these aspects,
will make the person have doubt about what has been said to him that is true and is
going to start a state of unnecessary research that will distort their reasoning.

SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE

Nowadays, we live in an era of the humanity in which information and all kind of
opinions is literally at our fingertips. Having a tool as efficient as it is the Internet,
which should be used for the post and spread of verified information, produces the
circulation of fake news and irrelevant information. For people who is unable to
identify and discriminate false information, the existence of the Internet represents a
real threat and danger

IGNORANCE
Commonly a person who believes in conspiracy theories is in a state of being
unaware of important information, facts and knowledge, or just ignore it. Not noticing
or ignoring the facts and knowledge that are scientifically supported and verified,
produce in the person a state of constant doubt, making them look at all kind of
theory that is evidently false or that has been already denied. Once these people
reach the point of becoming a conspiracist they start seeing verified information as
argument of their theory, of being manipulated. How does this work? Well, if I´m
talking to a flat earther and I say that there´s absolutely more proof to the round Earth
than the flat one; that person is going to argument that I´m being manipulated by the
purpose of the ¨round Erath lie¨.

DISINFORMATION
A person who is not informed about the world, or who does not have much cultural
knowledge, is very simple to be deceived, because he does not have the general
idea or the information needed to identify if a theory is false, so people usually just
believe them instead of looking for information to check if this is true or false.

RAMSEY THEORY
Ramsey's theory is a mathematical principle that can give a slight explanation of why
conspiracy theories arise.
This is based on a phrase that was mentioned by the mathematician TS Motzkin
which says "while disorder is more likely in general, complete disorder is impossible",
what this phrase says is that the more disorder you see in something there is always
a coincidence, what which gives us a very large mathematical calculation that gives
us a maximum and minimum range where you will find that coincidence,
By putting the computer more technologically advanced, to try to get these
coincidences without some method, they throw numbers such as: 2 ^ (1128), which
would be more than triple the atoms that exist in the universe. Which would be
something unreal, for that this mathematical calculation was formed.