Researchers from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee have explored why some people are more prone to embrace conspiracy theories than others. The findings were published in a scientific journal focused on psychology and behavior.
Analysts reviewed 170 studies on conspiracy beliefs and concluded that the impulse to accept secret plots and hidden agendas stems from fundamental motivational needs. These include a desire for certainty, the need to make sense of unclear events, and a sense of social misunderstanding. The researchers organized 52 variables into two broad categories: combined motivational factors related to social, existential, and epistemic aspects, and personal characteristics such as mood, personality traits, and psychological patterns.
The study identifies the three strongest indicators of conspiratorial belief in individuals: unusual life experiences, feelings of insecurity or threat, and a sense of superiority coupled with resistance to outside viewpoints. Together, these factors provide strong motivation for subscribing to conspiracy narratives.
Conspiracy beliefs tend to be self-reinforcing and resistant to change. Because they can influence individual behavior and public discourse, it is important to understand how these belief systems form and persist, so that effective interventions can be developed.
There is a clear link between conspiratorial thinking and certain mood patterns. Traits such as unusual perceptual experiences, paranoid tendencies, and hostility can increase the likelihood of adopting conspiratorial explanations. Such characteristics are often associated with challenges in information processing and a tendency to interpret events through a suspicious lens.
Within the wider social landscape, authoritarian attitudes have long been observed among some groups who express strong preferences for centralized control. This observation underscores how political psychology intersects with the appeal of conspiratorial narratives, especially in times of social stress or rapid change.