Why do we fall for conspiracy theoriesโeven the wild ones? Turns out, our brains are wired to crave patterns, control, and the thrill of “secret knowledge.” From seeing connections that donโt exist to trusting vague claims about “them,” psychology reveals why these stories feel so convincingโand why 60% of people globally believe at least one. In this episode of Curious with Clara, we unpack the science behind conspiracy thinking and how to spot your own biases. Stay skeptical, stay curious!
Cited Studies
1. Pattern Addiction (False Patterns Under Stress)
Relevant Claim in Script: “๐ 2017 ๐๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด 40% ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด.”
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ฎ: Whitson, J. A., & Galinsky, A. D. (2008). Lacking control increases illusory pattern perception. Science, 322(5898), 115-117. (Open Access via DOI)
2. Control Illusion (Evil Elites = Comforting)
Relevant Claim in Script: “๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ โ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ดโ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฐ๐ด ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด.”
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ฎ: van Prooijen, J.-W., & Douglas, K. M. (2017).
Conspiracy theories as part of history: The role of societal crisis situations. Memory Studies, 10(3), 323-333. (Open Access)
3. Tribal Flattery (Dopamine and “Secret Knowledge”)
Relevant Claim in Script: “๐๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ โ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ดโ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ตโ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ.”
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ฎ: Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. (2020). How paranoid are conspiracy believers? European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(5), 942-954. (Open Access)
4. Infinite Secrecy (Grimes’ Leak Calculation)
Relevant Claim in Script: “๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ฑ?”
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ฎ: Grimes, D. R. (2016). On the viability of conspiratorial beliefs. PLOS ONE, 11(3), e0151003.
(Open Access)
5. Global Conspiracy Belief (60% Statistic)
Relevant Claim in Script: “๐ 2022 ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ 26 ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด… 60% ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ.”
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ฎ: Jolley, D., Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M. (2022). The prevalence of conspiracy beliefs: A global systematic review. Current Psychology, 41(12), 8776-8788. (Open Access)
Music
Videodrome
by National Sweetheart
