UscinskiConspiracy

• UscinskiConspiracy

Conspiracy Theories : a primer

Joseph E. Uschinski 2020 Tigard 001.9 USC

• https://www.joeuscinski.com/

• Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami

• American Conspiracy Theories 2014

• Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them (ed) 2018

• p01 Ch 1 Why Study Conspiracy Theories?

• p-vii: FBI report about conspiracy theories

• p02 ref 6 Stanley Kubrick allegedly helped fake Moon landing, Refuted by daughter Vivian

• pxx ref 32

• p21 Ch 2 What Is a Conspiracy Theory?

• p47 Ch 3 The Popularity of Conspiracy and Anomalous Beliers

• p48 Likert scale .p58

• p59 Ch 3 ref 81 Paranormal America 2017 survey "25% of Americans believed that people can move objects with their minds"

• p59 Linda Lyons, "Paranormal Beliefs Come (Super) Naturally to Some"

• p59 !QAnon and flat Earth are newsworthy but unpopular

• p65 The Psychology and Sociology of Conspiracy Theories

• p67 conjunction fallacy -> conspiracy theories and paranormal phenomena

  • Do I Think BLS Data are BS? The Consequences of Conspiracy Theories Political Behavior Vol. 37 pp. 679–701 (2015), Katherine Levine Einstein & David M. Glick

• p67 Some strongly need cognitive closure, intolerant of uncertainty

• p67 Addicted to answers: Need for cognitive closure and the endorsement of conspiracy beliefs 2017 pdf

• p67 overactive cheater detectors, heavy debt + large insurance policy + house fire = suggests arson

• p67 death of Supreme Court conservative Antonin Scalia 2016. Obama conspiracy? or overweight 79yo smoker with diabetes and heart problems?

• p69 Cass Sunstein: conspiracy theories stem from crippled epistemologies

• p69 Walter Lippmann: People look to the news the way a drunk looks to a lamppost -- not for illumination, bur rather for reinforcement. "oft quoted" no cite, cannot find

• p69 Political arguments end in stalemate; unreasoned opinions cannot be altered with reason and evidence
• p69 motivated reasoning dismisses challenging information
• p69 People with less capacity for analytical thinking tend to believe conspiracy theories
• p70 four styles of personality traits: secure, anxious, avoidant, and fearful
  • anxious, avoidant, need for uniqueness, narcissism predict belief in conspiracy theories

  • delusional thinking, magical thinking, schizotypy, and hallucination proneness predict conspiracy beliefs

• p71 Paranormal ideation supernatural ideation

• p71 Neil Dagnall Conspiracy Theory and Cognitive Style: a Worldview Journal of Parapsychology

• p71 The concomitants of conspiracy concerns Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2017

• p72 n27 Sean Richey 2017 A Birther and a Truther: The Influence of the Authoritarian Personality on Conspiracy Beliefs

• p79 The Politics of Conspiracy Theories

• p80 n3 Medea Benjamin 2017 America Dropped 26,171 Bombs in 2016

• p81 n5 Joel Rosenblatt 2018 Champagne Remark May Cost Lawyer $289 Million Bayer Award (title of Bloomberg paywall article)

• p83 White replacement theory: corporations and governments conspire to replace whites with inexpensive foreign workers

  • Widely believed in Europe, 50% in France
• p86 Masonic square and compass image, the "G" in the center stands for Geometry (precision) and also God or "Grand Architect of the Universe". Freemasonry is non-denominational, but a belief in a supreme being is a requirement to join.

• p87 media messages have strong effects, hypodermic needle theory

• p89 Facebook "polarized users" of "conspiracy pages" comment and "like more often

  • n38 Bessi et.al. 2015

• p109 President Trump, the Internet, Conspiracy, and Conspiracy Theory

• p125 Conclusion