Do you want to do some serious damage to your efforts to cope with stress? That’s easy—just accept as many of the conspiracy theories floating around as you can. Buy into them hook, line, and sinker; let them rule your thinking and your actions. Before you know it, you will have stripped yourself of mature judgment, independent action, self-confidence, and trust and empathy toward those who genuinely care for you.
Mark Twain supposedly said: “A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.” In 2024, this figurative statement is now literal. In our time, information—whether true or misleading—can be disseminated worldwide in a matter of seconds. This fact is the promised land for those with evil, self-centered goals, who crave circulating “conspiracy theories” to achieve those goals. But why do people so often accept these theories, even when they are bizarre? I mean, really, would you like to have lunch with someone who believes that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were orchestrated by Israel in cooperation with a “deep-state branch of the FBI”? Seriously? Would you like to spend a pleasant evening with Alex Jones who—looking to gain some notoriety and sell some merchandise—propagated a disgusting, inhumane theory that the mass murder of 20 children aged 6-7, plus 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was staged? Yeh, that’s right, staged like a Hollywood production.
Another conspiracy theory claims that several years ago Coke intentionally changed to an inferior formula with New Coke, in order to drive up demand for the original product. The Coke president said that was nonsense: “The truth is, we’re not that dumb, and we’re not that smart.”Then there is QAnon, a far-right cult believing that Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters are operating a global child sex trafficking ring. It has roots in “pizzagate,” a conspiracy theory falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party. And don’t forget Holocaust denial, an antisemitic conspiracy theory, claiming that the Nazi extermination of European Jews is a hoax designed to win sympathy for Jews and justify the creation of the State of Israel.
Why do people buy into these and other nonsense theories? The psychological reasons are many: Paranoia. If you have a paranoid personality, it’s easy to accept a theory that others are conspiring against you. Authoritarian Personality. You find a leader who claims simple solutions to a problem, and then you follow that person. If your leader claims a conspiracy, you readily accept it. Need for predictability and control. Speaks for itself. Psychological Insecurities. The comfort of accepting conspiracy theories may help service hidden fears. For how many followers are their leaders father figures who metaphorically resolve the followers’ childhood paternal dysfunctions? Need for clarity. Conspiracy theories can bring sense out of a bewildering world. Social isolation. Those who are depressed or physically disabled, can surf the net and find similar sufferers, kindred spirits who might also subscribe to some conspiracy theory. Justification for supporting a cause. Speaks for itself.
There is a common thread that runs through the above list: Every factor represents a weakness—a flaw, a crack in one’s personality—that damages autonomy, independence, and conscience so much that the individual is willing to suspend rational thinking, and surrender judgment, reasoning, and empowerment to any quack who happens to be around. That’s a pretty poor way to live. You can find better ways of coping with stress. Find them. Stop letting someone else manage your life!
Psychology and Stress 