Why are some people inclined to believe in various conspiracies and paranormal phenomena with no regard for skepticism?
“Our findings suggest that part of the reason may be that many people do not view it as sufficiently important to form their beliefs on rational grounds,” notesTomas Ståhl, a University of Illinois at Chicago social psychologist.
While previous work in this area has indicated that people with higher cognitive ability – or a more analytic thinking style – are less inclined to believe in conspiracies and the paranormal. Ståhl wanted to know if other factors might influence a person’s tendency toward skepticism.
Working with Jan-Willem
van Prooijen of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, he conducted two online surveys
with more than 300 respondents each to assess analytic thinking and the
reliance on logic to form beliefs.
The first
survey found that an analytic cognitive style was associated with weaker
paranormal beliefs, conspiracy beliefs and conspiracy mentality. However, this
was only the case among participants who strongly valued forming their beliefs
based on logic and evidence (Ståhl et al., 2017).
“Reasonable skepticism about various conspiracy theories and paranormal phenomena does not only require a relatively high cognitive ability, but also strong motivation to be rational,” explains Ståhl.
“When the
motivation to form your beliefs based on logic and evidence is not there,
people with high cognitive ability are just as likely to believe in
conspiracies and paranormal phenomena as people with lower cognitive ability”
(Ståhl, 2017).
In the second
survey, Ståhl and his team examined whether these effects were uniquely
attributable to having an analytic cognitive style or whether they were
explained by more general individual differences in cognitive ability. Results
were more consistent with a general cognitive ability (Ståhl et al., 2017).
Interestingly,
Ståhl notes that despite a century of better educational opportunities and
increased intelligence scores in the U.S. population, unfounded beliefs remain
pervasive in contemporary society. Moreover, from linking vaccines with autism
to climate change skepticism, these widespread conspiracy theories and other
unfounded beliefs can lead to harmful behavior, according to Ståhl.
“Many of these
beliefs can, unfortunately, have detrimental consequences for individuals’
health choices, as well as for society as a whole,” he explains.
Whether in balancing theories that vaccines cause autism or in decreasing our tendency to endorse the paranormal, skepticism is what keeps our thinking checked by logic and free from unhinged, and in many cases, damaging beliefs.
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