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Full Article: https://psyche.co/ideas/how-conspiracy-theories-bypass-peoples-rationality

The short answer: they're more entertaining. Many conspiracy theories invoke drama, the fight of good vs evil, the idea that all isn't as it seems...much like a good book or movie. The article suggests that people are drawn to more entertaining and exciting stories over ones that are more boring, and that people who crave sensual/emotional experiences were more likely to be attracted to and to believe conspiracy theories. It concludes that based on this, it may not be enough to just correct misinformation and reduce anxiety about the times, but that we may have to educate people that entertaining stories aren't as likely to reflect reality. As the article states: "often, the truth can be quite boring".

It makes sense to me, at least, even if I think it's probably just one aspect of why people come to believe them. What are your thoughts?

I think its partly that and also partly that conspiracy theories make the world so much simpler and easy to understand. Most conspiracy theories are, at the end of the day, incredibly simple, x did b because y, for example. Its much more comforting to think you understand things, even horrifying things, that to try and accept that, sometimes, things are so complex, so nebulous, so weird that no one knows the full picture, that actions within actions leads to outcomes no one expects, that things can be both impossible complex and labyrinthian and incredibly mundane. Its so much easier to believe in a vast conspiracy where everything can be easily explained than to accept complex, intricate arguments or, worse, no answer at all.

I mean I want to say that most conspiracy theorists are just crazy. 

But at least a sizable portion of conspiracies turned out to in fact be true usually relating to what the government was or was not doing. 

Personally I do find conspiracy theories entertaining to a degree on a "haha you're funny" type of level, but not to any serious degree.

But like Aren, I find they tend to be a coping thing for folks in how the world works.  It's sometimes difficult to understand why things happen the way they do, and much like religion it's very easy to blame things on some wild conspiracy theory to suggest the odds were always against us.

Granted, like Abbi said some of those theories do end up being outed as true...so it's also easy to see why they can be so tantalizing to fall for when the true ones pop up.  That whole "even a broken clock can be right twice a day" analogy and all that, but when it's right it draws more people to want to jump down the rabbit hole of what other conspiracy theories could be true.

For some folks it's like gambling.  The second you get even a tiny win, there's some folks that may walk away with that win, but more than likely you'll get folks who up their bet (or in this case dive into a deeper/bigger conspiracy theory) and hope their winning streak (or in this case their streak of being proven right) will continue.

Highly recommend In Search of a Flat Earth by Dan Olson (Folding Ideas):

It's just really well made and he does some really beautiful real-life proof of round earth stuff in it. But it's also just a really good look at the Flat Earth conspiracy theory specifically, and he shows with interactions with believers that ultimately, this is rooted in fundamentalist Christian theology/worldview.

It's easier to believe a lie, regardless of how absurd, that confirms ur in biases and prejudices. Easier still when that lie provides a convenient escape from reality and a scapegoat for the believer... even more, it's greatly reinforced when other people join in on the fun. We're a social species, we tend to follow the herd, no matter how insane.

Then there's the love bombing tactic that religious organizations just adore and abuse like nothing else. Join us and we welcome u and shower u with love and adoration and affirmation. We help u and provide a listening ear, tempered heavily with indoctrination and our beliefs. Its addictive, and surprise surprise, it doesn't take much before u have a new zealot... however, if u leave that organization, they torment u, suddenly don't care about u, mock and ridicule u, and they begin condemning u. The polar opposite of what they show upon joining. It's psychological warfare at its finest and it's incredibly effective.

Case in point, look at what happens to people who leave scientology or the Mormon church. 

I think in this day and age social media is playing a huge role, too.

A few years ago I read an extensive article on the mental traumas Facebook moderators go through in the course of their jobs (who were part-time contractors and not even actual Facebook employees to boot), and one of the things it touched on is that some of the moderators had actually come to believe the conspiracy theories they were supposed to be moderating against. 

The moderators told me it’s a place where the conspiracy videos and memes that they see each day gradually lead them to embrace fringe views. One auditor walks the floor promoting the idea that the Earth is flat. A former employee told me he has begun to question certain aspects of the Holocaust. Another former employee, who told me he has mapped every escape route out of his house and sleeps with a gun at his side, said: “I no longer believe 9/11 was a terrorist attack.”

And later on in the article:

The job also changed the way he saw the world. After he saw so many videos saying that 9/11 was not a terrorist attack, he came to believe them. Conspiracy videos about the Las Vegas massacre were also very persuasive, he says, and he now believes that multiple shooters were responsible for the attack. (The FBI found that the massacre was the work of a single gunman.)

Randy now sleeps with a gun at his side. He runs mental drills about how he would escape his home in the event that it were attacked. When he wakes up in the morning, he sweeps the house with his gun raised, looking for invaders.

There's no doubt that Facebook moderators would get the worst of it, but remember that their algorithms are intentionally written to prioritize content that will emotionally stimulate you, usually in a negative way, because they've found that that's the best way to keep you glued to Facebook so you'll see more of their ads. What better content for doing that than conspiracy theories? I think that Facebook is the absolute worst for this, but other social media sites do this too to some extent.

well conspiracy theories and propaganda are both quite interesting topics, it can be hard to tell the difference between what to believe in and not so most people just don't believe them or make a religion out of them there isn't much of a middle ground 

@Raëlianist: They say to beware of emails that play on your emotions, because they're probably scam or phising emails. And the same holds true for things like this...a lot of conspiracy theories try to play on people's emotions, while social media vamps it up because their algorithms are designed to show content that plays on people's emotions, and then you have a perfect storm of mass indoctrination, really.

Conspiracy theories have always been a thing, but I blame social media for them becoming so widespread that they're a driving force. I don't think January 6th could have happened without social media.