Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories

Everything isn’t as they tell us: there’s a hidden side of reality, a universe of secret plans and covert operations. That’s the usual way of thinking of people who don’t trust official information. So myths are born about what “really happened”: the alleged filming of a Moon landing in Arizona’s soundstage and a pharmaceutical lobby; genetically modified products and the events of September 11, 2001; Egyptian pyramids, aliens, reptilians, political conspiracies, and a new world order. But believing in fantasies doesn’t necessarily mean you’re undereducated or on the margins—conspiracy theories are powerless against them, even presidents and Nobel laureates.

Analyzing conspiracy theories and their consequences, Rob Brozerton—the leading specialist in the psychology of conspiracy theories—doesn’t try to determine where the truth ends and fiction begins. What interests him is why conspiracy thinking is so compelling to us, and he finds the explanation in human nature. And the journey into our inner world is more fascinating than the most implausible stories about how the world is arranged.