there ought to be a Law......................

Be kind to animals.
Remember to spay and neuter your CTer.

I have cleaned this topic up. Stick to the topic and not posters. This will be the final warning. After, warnings will be sent.



this goes for posts as well.

Kim

Another interesting piece on this subject.


THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES

In my recent post on conspiracy theories, I elaborated perspectives from social psychology that attempted to explain the motive of conspiracy theorists. That post neglected the motive of belief. It has since occurred to me that conspiracy theories are—arguably—very creative. I add arguably because psychological definitions of creativity insist that creativity has two features: 1. it is novel 2. It is adaptive. I suspect that many clinical psychiatrists, and the generally annoyed public, would regard conspiracy theorists as paranoid and maladaptive.

In the prior post, I argued that conspiracy theories could reinforce social identity, bigotry, world-views, and self-esteem—in these regards conspiracy beliefs have an adaptive function to those who imagine or adopt them. Assuming that most conspiracy theories are products of ill-logical imaginings then they are at-least socially maladaptive—potentially even dangerous.

There is an established history in psychology of recognizing a correlation between creativity and mental illness. This is no myth. Lots of personality inventories, psychobiographies, psychiatric family histories, and psychiatric testing in highly accomplished creative’s demonstrate vulnerability to mental illness. Not to mention a long list of creative’s that downright suffered bouts of delusion, substance abuse, manic-depression, and schizotypy.

A more recent explanation for this is Shelley Carson’s shared vulnerabilities model. According to this model, creativity requires novelty seeking, openness to experience, and the ability to see connections and patterns. These very traits also account for mental illness as novelty seeking can lead to substance abuse, openness to experience can lead to poor psychological boundaries, and people can see patterns and connections that simply are not there.

Other traits associated with creativity and mental illnesses include grandiosity and mania. Grandiosity is a sense of specialized purpose, which along with mania often helps the creative person accomplish great feats and push those feats towards acceptance but these traits are also characteristic of mental disorders such as bi-polar or schizophrenic delusions.

It is therefore possible to be too open-minded. What strikes me about conspiracy theories is that they are essentially patterns– connections between people, things, and events–for which the evidence is slim or of poor quality. This is not to say that anybody who has entertained a conspiracy theory is schizophrenic but there is a good chance that those who dwell on conspiracy theories are. Most of us have experienced pareidolia, which is a psychological phenomenon of attributing high significance to something of low significance.

According to Carson, madness may be the genetic price for creativity. The consequence of creative genes is a susceptibility to certain psychological pathologies. These pathologies do not entail that those inflicted by them are geniuses but rather that their neural genetics are mutations or poor alignments of traits that are responsible for creativity. Madness is madness, but unfortunately, geniuses also suffer occasional neural misfires.

We might now conclude that the frivolous conspiracy theory is the product of a maladaptive creative process. Conspiracy theories can be born from schizophrenia, from the pareidolia of an otherwise healthy person, and from the occasional vulnerability of a truly creative person.


http://kevin-goodman.com/?p=1432

Personality and Conspiracy Theories: What Your Beliefs Say About You

Do you believe in conspiracy theories?

Published on March 7, 2011 by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Ph.D. in Mr. Personality

Imagine that everything we think we understand about how the world works is, in fact, an elaborate hoax. Democracy is a sham designed to fool us into believing we are in control. That a small group of unknown, unaccountable elites is actually pulling the strings and pretty much deciding the course of history; everything from the world economy and the conduct of nations to the media and pop culture is under their complete control. Anyone who says otherwise has either been fooled by the conspiracy or is an agent of disinformation.

Conspiracy theories are now a firm feature of popular culture - the recent furore around Wiki-leaks provided compelling evidence for this. But the popularity of conspiracy theorising dates back to the shocking assassination of American President J.F.K. in broad daylight and in front of dozens of onlookers on November 22nd, 1963. Immediately, many people claimed that there was more than one gunman, and conspiracy theories arose implicating everyone from the CIA to the communists. More recently, films like Oliver Stone's JFK and T.V. shows like The X-Files brought conspiratorial themes further into the mainstream. The terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 have become perhaps the most widely debated events of the current generation. Many people doubt the ‘official' story, believing instead that the events were the result of a conspiracy.

So, what has psychological research told us about belief in conspiracy theories? Not much. Indeed, so far only a handful of studies have looked at the personality of conspiracy theory believers. This research has found that believers tend to be lacking in trust and higher in levels of anomie - the feeling that things are generally getting worse - when compared to people with low levels of conspiracy beliefs. However, these findings show correlation, not causation. On the one hand, it may indicate that people's conspiratorial beliefs are a result of their underlying lack of trust; people who see conspiracies behind everything are simply be projecting their own jaded view of the world onto events. Alternatively, lack of trust may follow from the perception of a conspiracy, reflecting a rational response to the reality of living in a world of conspiracy.

Thus much further investigation is needed to better understand the psychology behind belief in conspiracies. A problem with research into conspiracy beliefs is that there are no validated measure of general conspiracy beliefs. Our new test - designed with Robert Brotherton and Christopher French - was developed to produce this kind of measure. We are interested in the underlying structure of conspiracy beliefs. Conspiracy theories arise surrounding many different events and issues, from assassinations to suicides, terrorist attacks to wars, and scientific theories to medical treatments. Some people might believe in all kinds of conspiracy equally, and some may endorse particular kinds of conspiracy more than others.

So are you someone who sees conspiracies behind important world events? Or do you subscribe more to the ‘cock-up' theory? We are interested in what kind of conspiracies you think might be true. At the end of the test we will tell you how you compare with the general public, and give you more information on a few of the most popular conspiracy theories.


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mr-personality/201103/personality-and-conspiracy-theories-what-your-beliefs-say-about-you/

It would have been interesting to participate and observe this study.

Freemasons to 'Birthers': rise of D.C. conspiracy theories


Once firmly in the fringe, political conspiracy theories have become more mainstream in the past few decades, say some.

By Alexandra Marks, Staff writer / August 4, 2009


Political conspiracy theories – like the so-called "birther" allegation that President Obama is not a legitimate US citizen – are as old as the nation.

In the late 1700s, it was rumored that the Freemasons were actually a Satanic cult and George Washington was a member who was elevated to the presidency so they could control the country. Such views were generally held by a few fringe groups and were viewed by the mainstream culture as a bit nutty.

But in the past few decades, conspiracy theories have tended to become a part of mainstream political culture, say political analysts. They point to Lou Dobbs’s promotion of the "birther" controversy on CNN, and to the Research 2000 survey that found 28 percent of Republicans think Mr. Obama was not born in the US and another 30 percent “aren’t sure,” despite overwhelming evidence that he was born in Hawaii.

The rising popularity of political conspiracy theories can be tied to a variety of factors, say analysts, from the growing distrust in government since Watergate and Vietnam to the expansion of the national security apparatus to the rise of the infotainment cable news culture.

Conspiracy theories are also thriving on the Internet, where people can choose what to read and what to ignore.

“The Internet perpetuates these things because of the ease with which you can look up all of this so-called ‘evidence’ on the web - no matter how far flung the idea is - and build whatever worldview you want while ignoring other evidence,” says James LaPlant, who teaches a class on political conspiracy theories at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga.

Professor Plant has called Mr. Dobbs’s decision to continue covering the “birther” movement “highly irresponsible,” because it legitimizes a debunked conspiracy theory. Many media and political analysts have also criticized Dobbs for keeping the controversy alive by continuing to ask Obama to release a “long form” birth certificate.

Several media and fact-check organizations, including researchers at CNN, have determined that the short “Certificate of Live Birth” produced by the Obama campaign in 2008 is legitimate. In a leaked e-mail, CNN president Jonathan Klein wrote that CNN researchers had determined that a “long form” certificate no longer exists because Hawaiian authorities destroyed their paper records in 2001, and declared the story “dead.”

Dobbs has fought back, calling concern about his coverage “left wing” and “thin gruel,” particularly because critics have charged the birther movement with having undertones of racial paranoia. Dobbs says that if Obama would simply release the “long form” certificate, the controversy would go away.

CNN has not responded to calls and e-mails asking for comment. Media Matters, a media watchdog group, has released an ad calling for CNN to stop Dobbs from promoting the controversy.

It's vital for mainstream media outlets to debunk political conspiracy theories, says LaPlant.

“When somebody is committed to the belief that we did not go to the moon, that JFK was murdered by a Lyndon Johnson and a Mafia/Cuba consortium, you just can’t reason with them,” he says. “This is what we’re running into now with the idea that Barack Obama was born in Kenya.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2009/0804/freemasons-to-birthers-rise-of-dc-conspiracy-theories

Although not a secret (or a conspiracy), the rise of this phenomenon can be attributed to the availability of news and opinion throughout mainstream media, ultimately culminating in the internet, where anybody with a half-baked theory can disseminate their views through a network of eager followers.

I wonder if CT'ers are simply frustrated with their lives & the world. So they project their zealous confusion outward trying to make sense of & to change the world. They then choose to enter into CT's of their own design or anothers. A 'release' maybe?

An interesting point. Prior to looking into this mindset, I equated the CTer with a cult member. That is, the need to feel a sense of belonging to an elite group that has access to 'secret' information. Hence the denigration of opponents that is a common feature of CT literature. While the above studies and observations support this view to a certain extent, there appears to be deeper psychological factors at work. Perhaps borne of the very frustrations and confusion you mention.

Prior to reading your research, I was more likely to equate the CTer with a cult "leader" mentality...I see cult members as subservient, robotized...I think CT spreaders are acutely aware of the size of their "flock" in terms of validation....Maybe I give them too much credit (?)...
I also see them as highly intelligent and very adept at identifying, not only those who are too intelligent and/or stable to accept their theories, but those who are most susceptible!...Their style of dealing with each "type" is very pronounced....Those who are not "buying in" are ostracized, demeaned, ridiculed, and laughed at while those who support are consistently praised and rewarded....Repudiation being difficult to impossible makes the CT network not only a colossal waste of time, it also contributes to a kind of "wheel spinning" mentality that, thanks to the internet, is rapidly spreading amoung our youth....I agree with Kramers "sinister attribution error" ...It is one reason I find myself pulled back into the desire or need to debunk when I encounter lies being spread...Anything that feeds the possibility of a young person developing negative daily cognition is not only dangerous, IMO it should be considered and treated as criminal.....

This also jumped out at me..."Madness is the genetic price for creative genius"....That creative genes may be more fragile or susceptible to madness is an easy concept when it is being exampled on a regular basis....

I think you are correct. I see it as an attention getting device. They can draw attention to outlandish theories that no sane person would spend a moment believing. They then can use the infinite source of youtube misinformation to claim validation while openly attacking anyone who says otherwise. Logic, expert opinion, and reason play no part. It is all about attention, frustration, and "being heard".

I am sure there are many CT types of personality. I was just trying to come from a different angle because I see some CTer's as victims of the more insidious leaders as Leigh posted.

A skeptic’s take on the public’s fascination with disinformation.

After a public lecture in 2005, I was buttonholed by a documentary filmmaker with Michael Moore-ish ambitions of exposing the conspiracy behind 9/11. “You mean the conspiracy by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to attack the United States?” I asked rhetorically, knowing what was to come.

“That’s what they want you to believe,” he said. “Who is they?” I queried. “The government,” he whispered, as if “they” might be listening at that very moment. “But didn’t Osama and some members of al Qaeda not only say they did it,” I reminded him, “they gloated about what a glorious triumph it was?”

“Oh, you’re talking about that video of Osama,” he rejoined knowingly. “That was faked by the CIA and leaked to the American press to mislead us. There has been a disinformation campaign going on ever since 9/11.”

Conspiracies do happen, of course. Abraham Lincoln was the victim of an assassination conspiracy, as was Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand, gunned down by the Serbian secret society called Black Hand. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a Japanese conspiracy (although some conspiracists think Franklin Roosevelt was in on it). Watergate was a conspiracy (that Richard Nixon was in on). How can we tell the difference between information and disinformation? As Kurt Cobain, the rocker star of Nirvana, once growled in his grunge lyrics shortly before his death from a self-inflicted (or was it?) gunshot to the head, “Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.”

But as former Nixon aide G. Gordon Liddy once told me (and he should know!), the problem with government conspiracies is that bureaucrats are incompetent and people can’t keep their mouths shut. Complex conspiracies are difficult to pull off, and so many people want their quarter hour of fame that even the Men in Black couldn’t squelch the squealers from spilling the beans. So there’s a good chance that the more elaborate a conspiracy theory is, and the more people that would need to be involved, the less likely it is true.

Why do people believe in highly improbable conspiracies? In previous columns I have provided partial answers, citing patternicity (the tendency to find meaningful patterns in random noise) and agenticity (the bent to believe the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents). Conspiracy theories connect the dots of random events into meaningful patterns and then infuse those patterns with intentional agency. Add to those propensities the confirmation bias (which seeks and finds confirmatory evidence for what we already believe) and the hindsight bias (which tailors after-the-fact explanations to what we already know happened), and we have the foundation for conspiratorial cognition.

Examples of these processes can be found in journalist Arthur Goldwag’s marvelous new book, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies (Vintage, 2009), which covers everything from the Freemasons, the Illuminati and the Bilderberg Group to black helicopters and the New World Order. “When something momentous happens, everything leading up to and away from the event seems momentous, too. Even the most trivial detail seems to glow with significance,” Goldwag explains, noting the JFK assassination as a prime example. “Knowing what we know now … film footage of Dealey Plaza from November 22, 1963, seems pregnant with enigmas and ironies—from the oddly expectant expressions on the faces of the onlookers on the grassy knoll in the instants before the shots were fired (What were they thinking?) to the play of shadows in the background (Could that flash up there on the overpass have been a gun barrel gleaming in the sun?). Each odd excrescence, every random lump in the visual texture seems suspicious.” Add to these factors how compellingly a good narrative story can tie it all together—think of Oliver Stone’s JFK or Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, both equally fictional.

What should we believe? Transcendentalists tend to believe that everything is interconnected and that all events happen for a reason. Empiricists tend to think that randomness and coincidence interact with the causal net of our world and that belief should depend on evidence for each individual claim. The problem for skepticism is that transcendentalism is intuitive; empiricism is not. Or as folk rock group Buffalo Springfield once intoned: Paranoia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep …

Michael Shermer, Scientific American

- Why People Believe in Conspiracies


http://abluteau.wordpress.com/law/98-miscellaneous/why-people-believe-in-conspiracies/

Just The Facts

1. The average conspiracy theorist will argue with NASA, Nobel-prize winners and every expert in the world despite having fewer qualifications than the average fry cook.
2. Conspiracy theorists view logical argument as cheating.
3. conspiracy theories are a problem made much worse by the Internet.
4. Never assume malice when incompetence will do.

An Ego Issue

Conspiracy theorists divide the world into "Everyone even remotely involved/qualified vs. Me," and decide that they'll win single-handedly. They're like Rambo with ******** instead of bullets.

They tend to enjoy the ego-boost that comes with thinking of oneself as the only intelligent objector in a world of sheeple. When the government has to spend billions of dollars shuttling Elvis from Roswell to the Bermuda Triangle and back in black helicopters before you can feel good about yourself, you've got to be pretty tragic.
Shadowy Organizations

Conspiracy theorists believe the world is run by schizophrenic shadowy organizations who - despite conspiring with millions in perfect silence - can't resist putting clues in things like major public monuments and every note of currency ever printed. Making the average Batman villain look like Professor Moriarty.

At the last count the world was secretly being run by the Illuminati, Knights Templar, Freemasons, Trilateral commission, New World Order, Skull & Bones society, Bilderberg group, Nine Unknown Men and the ever-popular Jews. It's unknown whether they all vote on various issues or just ask Dan Brown whose turn it is each week. Conspiracy theorists honestly believe that these invisible elites have run thousands of years of history but are incapable of killing someone who lives in a basement and shouts on street corners.
Conspiracy Theorist Abilities

Conspiracy theorists display incredible attention to detail, an even more incredible ability to ignore details they don't like, obsessive focus and a complete absence of social skills.

http://www.cracked.com/funny-44-conspiracy-theories/

and nope,it isn't funny,more likely tragic!

"At the last count the world was secretly being run by the Illuminati, Knights Templar, Freemasons, Trilateral commission, New World Order, Skull & Bones society, Bilderberg group, Nine Unknown Men and the ever-popular Jews. It's unknown whether they all vote on various issues or just ask Dan Brown whose turn it is each week. Conspiracy theorists honestly believe that these invisible elites have run thousands of years of history but are incapable of killing someone who lives in a basement and shouts on street corners.

That is brilliant!

No comment. I dont want to be banned, LMHO here.

Maybe we should talk about puppies?

Now that is ruff!

More puppies:

There could be alien energy beams pointed at those puppies Right Now!!!!