Conspiracy theories – such as those surrounding the death of Princess Diana – are more likely to be believed by people who are willing themselves to conspire, new research at the University of Kent has shown.
In a paper to be published in the British Journal of Social Psychology, Dr Karen Douglas and Dr Robbie Sutton, two researchers from the School of Psychology, found that – in keeping with the psychological process called projection – an individual’s perception that “I would do it” informs his or her perception that “they did it”…
The more that participants indicated a willingness to conspire, the more they found the same conspiracy theories to be plausible, interesting, and worth considering…Further, the researchers found that participants who were highly Machiavellian – defined as willing to exploit others for personal gain – were more likely to indicate willingness to conspire, and as a result, were more likely to believe in conspiracy theories…
‘We found that in their search for explanations under such uncertain and confusing conditions, people rely partly on projection – the assumption that others would behave much as they would.
Har.
Maybe Alfie is right. Obama should have:
- Asked the Pakistan government to arrest Bin Laden
- Sent a fleet of lawyers over extradite him to the Hague
- Prosecuted him at the world court
- Put him in jail in Sweden to ensure proper and humane oversight
- Rehabilitated him so he could work in a 7-11 when released
- Hugged a unicorn
- Put the wings back on the butterfly
- Found the real killers for OJ
- Have Alfie win the Miss America pageant
I wonder if they studied individuals who believe in the official government conspiracies (ie. Osama was the “mastermind” of 9/11). They too must be tinfoil hat wearing crazies projecting their own neurosis onto events they can’t understand due to government lies they are fed by corporate media. So when they attack people who believe in other conspiracies, they’re simply projecting.
One must wear a tin foil hat (or be drunk of kool aid) to believe the video cams of all the seals went out at the same time; that the photo of the kill shot would incite those given to blowing up mosques filled with women and children, to more violence; that in this age of NCIS autopsy and the need to identify Osama’s body, that it would receive neither and be dumped at sea without either taking place.
It requires the willful suspension of intellect to believe the Administration’s claims.
Wow! And here I thought we were talking about the type of nutjobs that believe:
A) 911 was masterminded by George Walker Bush (Fahrenheit 911, anyone?)
B) Jobs “Saved or Created”.
C) Exporting jobs to China will HELP our economy!
D) “Jobs, jobs, jobs – let’s vote for jobs!”
E) Gun control saves lives.
F) Obama care will reduce our spending on healthcare.
G) Obama is a good President.
F) And other seriously deranged ideas…
The number of conspiracy theories is probably proportional to the number of conspiracies that have been carried out in the last couple of decades… Think about it. I bet a good number of them are true.
My job in IT depends on me being capable of rational thought and I do a good job. If I were highly delusional then my systems would not work. Sorry, you can call me what ever ‘tinfoil label’ you will. I just analyze the data that I can get my hands on and come up with the nearest logical conclusion. Most of my military friends believe this Bin Laden assassination thing is a farce. Many of you give people too much credit because they have ‘power’ and you think they love you or something.
Watching or reading most of the Mass Media is like watching cartoons. It’s pretty sad.
Ah_Yea said, #84Wow! And here I thought we were talking about the type of nutjobs that believe:
yup thats me
A) 911 was masterminded by George Walker Bush (Fahrenheit 911, anyone?)
not likely (W) gullible,naive, lead by the most Machiavellian team in history but masterminded 911 nope his team just tried to make the most of it. and we all know trying is the first step towards failure.
B) Jobs “Saved or Created”.
some saved, some created, some lost. the question was weather to bet on by investing in the country of just let it fall and pick itself up
C) Exporting jobs to China will HELP our economy!
not likely but if you believe in the capitalist free market and you system is setup to run with that you will lose out to country that write different rules set up to only benefit them
D) “Jobs, jobs, jobs – let’s vote for jobs!”
every one thinks there plan is the best for that take your pick they are all about the same in the end our politicians are minor players here
E) Gun control saves lives.
yes but it pisses people off so why bother, we are to immature to have our toys taken away “here’s to guns, the cause of, and solution to, all life’s americas problems.”
F) Obama care will reduce our spending on healthcare.
nothing will reduce our spending on healthcare it might slowdown the increase and get more people covered
G) Obama is a good President
.
better than some but only history gets to judge we can vote on it in 2012 Wohooo!
F) And other seriously deranged ideas…
like alphe doing everything the bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!
>> Ah_Yea said, on May 5th, 2011 at 8:21 pm
>> Wow! And here I thought we were talking about the type of nutjobs that believe:
You make no effort discern between conspiracy theories, facts, legitimate difference of opinion, and straw men.
Let me help you:
A) 911 was masterminded by George Walker Bush (Fahrenheit 911, anyone?)
Conspiracy theory &
Straw man: Did you even see “Fahrenheit 911″?
B) Jobs “Saved or Created”.
Fact.
>> Economists agree: Stimulus created nearly 3 million jobs
http://tinyurl.com/2e3ltqn
C) Exporting jobs to China will HELP our economy!
Straw man: The liberals screamed louder about this than the conservatives ever did.
D) “Jobs, jobs, jobs – let’s vote for jobs!”
Straw man: The GOP won the mid-terms on “job jobs jobs.”
E) Gun control saves lives.
Fact:
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/GUNS/GUNSTAT.html
with room for honest disagreement.
F) Obama care will reduce our spending on healthcare.
Fact:
http://cbo.gov/publications/collections/health.cfm
(if you replace “will” with “projected by the CBO, our way to decide these things,)
Straw man: the term “Obamacare” rather than it’s real name.
G) Obama is a good President.
Honest disagreement.
F) And other seriously deranged ideas…
Straw man.
>> in keeping with the psychological process called projection – an individual’s perception that “I would do it” informs his or her perception that “they did it”…
The remarkable thing about conservatives is that they do the EXACT thing they excoriate conservatives for wanted to do.
It’s far beyond hypocrisy. It’s not “just as bad” — it is the _VERY BEHAVIOR_ they project on us liberals.
Sexual perversity and degrading marriage. Check.
Death panels. Check.
Massive fiscal irresponsibility. Check.
Big government. Check.
Welfare programs. Check.
Killing jobs. Check.
Election fraud. Check.
Affirmative action. Check.
Class warfare. Check.
and check and check and check.
Alfie, care to state where anyone reversed the us policy, specifically the one where it awas agreed there was no ban on assasinating foreign nationals and that concerning bin laden the gloves were off? So this whole “rules of engagement” thing of yours is wrong, what ya moving onto next?
#88 The precise meaning of “assassination” hasn’t been defined. Its not legal to murder someone who is surrendering:
http://opiniojuris.org/2010/03/28/assassination-and-the-koh-speech/
That’s why the WH backed off claiming it was a kill mission, when it was revealed he was unarmed, and perhaps surrendering.
Holder would prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, anyone who killed Osama, if it were not Obama ass in the sling.
>Obama should have:
- Asked the Pakistan government to arrest Bin Laden
- Sent a fleet of lawyers over extradite him to the Hague
Well liberals on this site were arguing that the War on Terror should be treated as a law enforcement issue because it is one.
Only those wearing tin foil hats would ignore the contradictory statements, total recasting of events, and the absurd claim the video was lost, when we were shown this picture of Obama supposedly watching the event:
http://telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8493391/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-Blackout-during-raid-on-bin-Laden-compound.html
It requires a willful suspension of disbelief, mass quantities of kool aid, meter’s thick tin foil hats, to believe the Whitehouse on these things.
AND in this day of NCIS class autopsy, to suppose the body was dumped without any photo’s is absurd to the extreme.
Nothing about this makes sense, save one explanation.
Obama, pathological liar that he is, decided to make it all about himself…He was the hero…he gave the kill order…
AND when it was realized how wrong that was, how learning he was shot by his own body guards would reveal the true character of Obama…the coverup began.
No photo.
No autopsy.
No body.
And the kool aid is free.
#90 100% correct, if progressives actually held sincere beliefs they followed regardless the cost.
They do not.
Everything they said against Bush, everything they railed about concerning civil rights, due process, illegal war, etc etc…was all talking points.
They said those things to get elected…now in power, they are Bush II redux.
And worse.
Unlike principled Bush, they kill fathers in front of their children, or that’s how one version of the “truth” was told.
There are no versions of the truth, only tin foil hat people believe there are, progressives that is
“Give me a check, and you can have my liberty,”-Progressive Goonion cry
Well done, everyone. You are all quite wonderful and unique.
#57 I understand your dismay, first black President, and he is a pathological liar…kept hardly none of his promises.
Here’s a black candidate you should get behind, I might support him myself, he went into the debate with only one supporter, and left with more than half participating in Lund’s focus group, as supporters:
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, however, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain emerged from the first debate with the highest rating from Fox News’ focus group.
http://huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/06/republican-presidential-debate-south-carolina_n_858401.html
Howard Beale #86
I like that response. Well thought out and eloquent. Nicely done!
except for all the typos, sorry about that
It’s amazing. The responses here EXACTLY and PERFECTLY demonstrate the point of the article (projection — “I would do it, so they must be doing it”), yet completely miss the IRONY.
Who lied to you about having to save the world economy?
Who lied to you about WsMD in Iraq?
Who lied to you about he not “being a crook“?
Who lied to you about a chicken in every pot?
Who lied to you about “54.40 or Fight“?
Who lied to you about …
I mean, how much brown mushy stuff do you have to get on a plate before you figure out that all that the restaurant serves is shit?
You elect someone, anyone, from any party, and you keep needing the Praetorian guard, or its post-Roman equivalent, to rescue your ass.
Your pool of candidates is too shallow.
You don’t need elections of greedy, manipulatable, self-interested weasels, you need a lottery..