Why Do People Believe Strange Things?

We hear a lot about conspiracy theories, ranging from “birther” arguments to pizza parlor pedophilia rings, to beliefs in alien beings living next door and controlling our minds (and, of course, they’re also trying to take over the world). Why would people believe such nonsense, particularly when there is no confirming evidence and the majority of people disbelieve?

Social psychology has clearly shown that we have certain ingrained biases in our thought processes that lead our normal, objective thinking astray. These biases serve not only to lead people to believe outlandish things, but they also strengthen those odd views.

Sensemaking & Cognitive Dissonance. Humans have a tendency to want to find a convenient explanation for strange and negative occurrences. When something bad or unusual happens, we seek to make sense of it. For example, if someone experiences several tragic events one after another, a belief may form that the person is “cursed” and/or is being “punished” for some transgression.

Cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant state of inconsistencies in behaviors or in thoughts that humans tend to try to get rid of — we want to avoid these mental contradictions. So, we try to make sense of them by creating consistencies (e.g., demons or the devil must have cursed the unfortunate victim). When people observe weird things, there is a tendency to want to make sense out of inconsistencies, so people may fall prey to any conspiracy theory that seems to explain reasonably (or unreasonably) what happened.

Confirmation Bias. Once one has adopted some strange belief, confirmation bias serves to strengthen it. We tend to search for evidence that confirms our belief and ignore disconfirming evidence. We see this all the time in politics (for example, listening only to conservative/liberal media outlets), but it also helps strengthen outrageous theories and beliefs.

With social media, it is very easy to find confirming information for any crazy theory or idea, and simply ignoring the mounds of disconfirming evidence. If you don’t believe me, try it. Think of an outlandish idea and you will find confirming evidence (as I was writing this I googled alien invasions and found a theory that the octopus is actually an alien from space — of course, there are also plenty of scientists who say this is bunk). The result of confirmation bias, however, is that it can strengthen any outlandish belief.

Belief in a Just World. There is a human tendency to believe that the world is fair and that things “even out.” So, when we see something extraordinarily good (or bad) happen to someone, we tend to think that something bad (or good) will happen that will balance it out.

I started thinking about this when I came across theories that state that certain celebrities are aliens or have sold their souls to the devil in exchange for fame and fortune (note that these aliens or demons-by-association are always high-profile people, movie stars, CEOs, politicians — rarely run-of-the-mill types).

Belief in a just world kicks in to help us believe that these people didn’t get there through talent, hard work, or luck, but through some other “alien” process, because, after all, those good things don’t happen to us.

Hindsight Bias. This is the all-too-human, “I told you so” bias. If someone possesses weird beliefs — such as “alien beings are taking over our government,” then when an extraordinary candidate comes to power (take “dark horse” candidate, Donald Trump, for instance) it makes it easy to verify one’s belief system (“See, I knew that he was an alien!”).

Conformity Processes. Believers of far-out conspiracy theories are in the minority, and the vast majority don’t hold those same weird beliefs. So, how can the conspiracy believer maintain their odd beliefs when most other people disbelieve? Well, research on conformity processes suggests that if you find other believers — even one person — it can help to strengthen the outrageous theory/belief. In fact, believers will often mention that there are others (“many people believe…”).

Existential Fears. Many conspiracy theories and outlandish beliefs involve threats to lives, personal safety, and democratic institutions. Many weird beliefs are an outgrowth of people’s fears about their own safety and mortality.

Magical Defense Mechanisms. This is the process by which believers are able to defend against contradictory evidence and arguments that try to debunk their strange theories/beliefs. Underlying these defense mechanisms is rationalization — a means of seemingly making sense out of the nonsensical.

Defense Mechanisms Essential Reads

A New View of Defense Mechanisms

When Moral Reasoning Isn’t Just Rationalization

For example, if someone believes in an alien takeover of the planet, and you present them with scientific facts that counter the existence of aliens, the magical defense/rationalization might be “the aliens have planted those stories so that we don’t find out about their sinister plan.” Likewise, if a believer points out a “demon lizard-alien” and you reply, “that looks like a regular person,” the believer says, “the demon is programming your mind to see a human.” Obvious evidence is discounted as “fake” or just part of a carefully orchestrated coverup.

Audacious Lies and Belief Systems. This comes from my research on lying. Often, the bigger and more audacious the lie, the more likely it is to be believed simply because the recipient figures “if it’s that wild/unbelievable, it must be true!” This helps to draw in the believer and can be used to “convert” others to the weird belief system.

How to Counter Others’ Weird Beliefs. This will be the topic of a future post, but the short answer is to provide as much objective, contradictory evidence as you can. Although it may be discounted by the recipient, getting them to engage in some sort of critical thinking is the first step.