Feeling paranoid? You might be more susceptible to conspiracy theories
A new study suggests that people who are paranoid are more likely to believe conspiracy theories than those who are not paranoid.
UK scientists surveyed 1000 people in an online survey to determine whether there was a relationship between paranoia - the irrational and persistent feeling that people are ‘out to get you’ - and different components of conspiracy theories.
The main survey tested participants’ agreement with conspiracies that affected them or wider society, as well as whether the events the theories referred to were incidental or intentional.
For instance, participants were asked to score how much they agreed or disagreed with statements surrounding vaccination. These included theories describing intentional events that affected the individual - e.g. “Some of the vaccines I have received have been designed to be harmful to me, but I was unaware of this at the time” - and some describing events that affected society that were incidental - e.g. “Vaccines given to the public have unintended harmful side effects and the public are unaware of this”.
After analysing their results, the researchers found that people who were more paranoid were more likely to believe theories that affected them as individuals, as well as those that described events that were intentional.
The study found that paranoid people were more likely to endorse beliefs, such as anti-vaccination beliefs, than those who are not. Image: Getty Images
Counter to their initial predictions, the team found people were more likely to believe theories they thought people similar to them would also believe, whether they were paranoid or not.
As for the overall group of participants, they found people were more likely to believe theories that suggested the event or harm it referred to was accidental, rather than intentional. People were also more likely to believe theories that affected the whole of society rather than just themselves.
“Overall, we show that the believability of conspiracy theories may depend on the level of intentional harm implied, and who is specified as the target of the harm described,” the scientists wrote.
They argue that these results could also impact our understanding of belief revision - the process by which we change our beliefs after receiving new information.
Particularly, they suggest that paranoia may affect a person’s ability to update their beliefs in conspiracies, and the features of different theories may have a role to play too.
Their findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Image: Getty Images