Motivated Reasoning

A psychological paper in the American Journal of Political Science by Joanne M. Miller, Kyle L. Saunders, and Christina E. Farhart titled: 'Conspiracy Endorsement as Motivated Reasoning: The Moderating Rules of Political Knowledge and Trust,' defines the main reasons for people believing in conspiracy theories.

Joanne Miller said, "In a nutshell, motivated reasoning is the notion that people like to maintain the attitudes they have, preserve the attitudes they have, the beliefs they have, protect their identities, especially if their attitudes are wrapped up in their identities." Political knowledge comes into the picture naturally as motivated reasoning encounters favorable or unfavorable information, and the role of trust is equally obvious: distrust s the mother's milk of all conspiracy theories, according to Joanne.

Basically, conspiracy theories are for losers. A lot of the conspiracy theories are manufactured by conservatives, especially in this political moment and especially if the theories make liberals look bad.

There are a number of factors that contribute to motivated reasoning. Mostly, if information that contradicts your attitudes, beliefs and messes with your identity, then motivated reasoning will make you believe in a conspiracy theory. In other words, you won't actually try to look into the information and analyze it rationally. You make the decision based on your political beliefs.

However, this is based on a psychological approach. Some people may have a predisposition to believe in conspiracy theories. This would make it a disorder. Some people see frightening things in many reports of untimely deaths or life-threatening situations. It's because they loose control over their lives, or they have that feeling.

Conspiracies are often imaginary, as proven by psychological tests of what people make out of dots on a computer screen. In other words, they see monsters and danger in everything. This indicates that most conspiracy theories are speculative. They're not based on reason or science.

To me, this is much the same that goes on with normal news. People tend to believe what they hear as long as it plays in their beliefs and attitudes. For example, if you are someone who believes that vaccinations are the cause of autism, you will accept that premise from someone even if that someone is not really qualified in medical science.

As it turns out the more trusting you are, the less likely you will buy into conspiracy theories. I would suggest that belief in conspiracy theories is endemic to a tabloid reading populace. It's like juicy gossip. Some people like it and will jump on it no matter whether it is completely ridiculous or not. Like Don Henley said: Give me dirty laundry.

Thanks for reading.