Conspiracy Theories “Why Rational People Buy into Conspiracy Theories” by Maggie Koerth-Baker, discuses Conspiracy Theories and why people believe in them. She goes in to the factual part and also the scientific/ physiological view of it. Conspiracy theories are beliefs that there is a different story behind tragic events. She starts off by bringing up an event known as the Boston Marathon Bombing. She discusses how the Tsarneav brothers were responsible for the attack. She then brings up the many conspiracy theories that people began to assume. One of them is that the brothers could have been working for a “mysterious Saudi with high level connections”. According to Viren Swami a psychology professor who studies conspiracy belief, “The best
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I was amazed with the feedback I received and the reasoning I found behind conspiracy theories. In order to get my research complete and accurate I decided to interview people my age about the topic. I asked them a variety of questions, such as “What are Conspiracy Theories”, and “Do you believe in Conspiracy Theories.” The interviews took place at Cape Fear Community College around the Library. I interviewed ten people and almost 80 percent of the people believed in conspiracy theories. I brought up the psychological aspect and that’s when almost 90 percent disagreed with it. They said that it’s up to someone what they believe and that psychology has nothing to do with beliefs. My research was based off of the author Koerth-Baker’s story. My research is related to the story because I asked people if they thought that the internet had its ways of spreading the thoughts of conspiracy …show more content…
80% disagreed, they said that it had nothing to do with psychological feelings. Whereas Koerth-Baker says science proves otherwise. Koerth-Baker says that “While psychologists can’t know exactly what goes on inside our heads, they have, through surveys and laboratory studies, come up with a set of traits that correlate well with conspiracy belief” (Koerth-Baker 343). This scientifically shows that people have the traits that “correlate well with conspiracy beliefs” (Koerth-Baker 343). The people who agreed with Koerth-Baker explained that they truly believe that psychology ties in to beliefs of conspiracy
I was amazed with the feedback I received and the reasoning I found behind conspiracy theories. In order to get my research complete and accurate I decided to interview people my age about the topic. I asked them a variety of questions, such as “What are Conspiracy Theories”, and “Do you believe in Conspiracy Theories.” The interviews took place at Cape Fear Community College around the Library. I interviewed ten people and almost 80 percent of the people believed in conspiracy theories. I brought up the psychological aspect and that’s when almost 90 percent disagreed with it. They said that it’s up to someone what they believe and that psychology has nothing to do with beliefs. My research was based off of the author Koerth-Baker’s story. My research is related to the story because I asked people if they thought that the internet had its ways of spreading the thoughts of conspiracy …show more content…
80% disagreed, they said that it had nothing to do with psychological feelings. Whereas Koerth-Baker says science proves otherwise. Koerth-Baker says that “While psychologists can’t know exactly what goes on inside our heads, they have, through surveys and laboratory studies, come up with a set of traits that correlate well with conspiracy belief” (Koerth-Baker 343). This scientifically shows that people have the traits that “correlate well with conspiracy beliefs” (Koerth-Baker 343). The people who agreed with Koerth-Baker explained that they truly believe that psychology ties in to beliefs of conspiracy