The Phenomenon of Conspiracy



The Phenomenon of ConspiracyMartin MoralesUniversity of Wisconsin – Green BaySubmitted to:English Composition – Research Collectives, 105Dr. Paul M.L. BelangerApril 10, 2020Available at:Link Live Blog PostAbstractThis paper dives into the many different perspectives of intrinsic human values. Curiosity is something that is omnipresent in the life of all individuals. Its impact cannot be questioned as it has great impact on the mental, financial, social, and environmental aspects of each individual’s life. moreover, our ever present existential, epistemic, and social motives further push our minds to use their curious trait. One of the more interesting routes that one’s curiosity can lead to is the belief of conspiracy theory. As humans continue to live in an inevitable imperfect world, the chances of tragic events remain in a sense expected. With tragic events comes great uncertainty. Maintaining certainty is something that also holds a major effect on the lives of people. When this is tethered with, the feelings of unease ultimately give a unwanted effect on an individual and they begin to search for ways to eliminate these feelings and return to their feelings of satisfaction, safety, and certainty. This often may be received by one choosing to believe in conspiracy. While a theory may never fully satisfy one’s desires, their value as an intrinsic life component is not up for debate. The work was done by combining all the different life elements that already hold intrinsic value and seeing the link that conspiracy shares with them. Much of it lied in the fact that our species is and will continue to be an imperfect one. Ultimately, mankind shall remain a curious species and that will forever be accompanied by conspiracy.The Phenomenon of ConspiracyAll throughout human existence, individuals continuously work towards acquiring feelings of certainty in their lives. Financially, socially, mentally, environmentally, etc., this quest is tied to every aspect of one’s life. Driving this mission, are intrinsic drives of curiosity that are omnipresent for humans. This push of curiosity receives its initial fuel from the everyday motives we seek to satisfy every day. These are named the epistemic, social, and existential motives. When one of the three is tethered with, an individual’s grip of certainty in life is altered and their curiosity sparks their mission to regain their grasp of their life situation. An extension of these drives is conspiracy theory belief. The motives mentioned are ones that have potential to be satisfied by believing in a conspiracy theory and offer the clarity that so many seek. As humans continue to live in an unperfect world, it can be expected that the intrinsic drives will continue to be exercised. Ultimately, this never-ending cycle can prove that conspiracy thinking may also be expected and perhaps even a valuable part of human nature.Curiosity definitely holds tremendous value to the human race. Since the beginning this trait has allowed humans to continue to reach new heights as a species. It holds legitimate benefits socially, and mentally by allowing one to think outside the box instead of settling for the basic or normal versions. Individuals that express their curious minds often build meaningful relationships with others as they dig deeper and take in the information with their attention undivided CITATION The \l 1033 (The curious case of curiosity and its intrinsic link to a happier existence, n.d.) Indeed, this characteristic will exist hand and hand with humanity with no end in sight. While this trait seems to only be beneficial, it’s important to remember that too much of anything can hold drastic consequences.Many ideas of innovation, actions of influence, discussions of change and many more keep our daily lives moving. Some included in this vast range are involuntary ones like our bodies regulating things like our heartbeat, breathing, and blinking. The ones holding more importance are the voluntary. These include actions such as moving, speaking, and more specific ones that influence one’s decision like choosing who one would want their role model to be. Regardless, the massive amount of choices we make every day assure that our species will not remain in the same spot as it was in the past. The voluntary life elements share the same source of fuel in curiosity. Naturally, mankind exercises this trait in both senses of the world. As babies, humans have up to double the number of neurons in their brains which directly results in higher curiosity (The Curious Case of Curiosity). As one ages, the brain continues to grow, and curiosity evolves into something more complex that is influenced by factors such as education, upbringing, genetics and environment CITATION Kid15 \l 1033 (Kidd, 2015). Aside from the change, this attribute is indeed omnipresent and underlies the humans experience that all become accustomed to. From a cultural standpoint, this characteristic’s presence remains felt by many societies. In the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions lies a story of Adam and Eve. The story mainly revolves around how a serpent deceives Eve into eating an apple from the forbidden tree. Although having received order from God to not eat from the tree, Eve’s curiosity got the best of her as she proceeded to eat the apple CITATION Old80 \l 1033 (Old Testament Stories, 1980). The characteristic of curiosity is a powerful one. One will go through many times where they are presented something that morally or socially is not allowed. In the case for Eve, she wanted to gain the knowledge that was promised to her by eating the apple. Although she knew that this was forbidden, her curios mind led her to be deceived. Although the story of Adam and Eve portrayed their curiosity as part of the villain act, the trait indeed offers much more to humans and can bring real joy.The benefits of one exercising their curious mind are well worth pointing out. At its base, curiosity provides an openness to unfamiliar experiences and information CITATION The \l 1033 (The curious case of curiosity and its intrinsic link to a happier existence, n.d.). With this, individuals are influenced to do many more activities that are outside of their comfort zone and build on their life experiences. Any organism holding the ability to make use of intangible information can see positive outcomes that happen immediately or in the future. As a result, one of the most common theories of curiosity is that it is meant to drive this and motivate more learning CITATION Kid15 \l 1033 (Kidd, 2015). For humans this means expanding on pre-existing knowledge and breaking barriers to what one thinks is achievable. Aside from the educational benefits, the social impact holds enormous potential as well. Those who are considered very curious are far more likely to build real and valuable relationships as they are able to connect with others on a deeper and much more emotional level CITATION The \l 1033 (The curious case of curiosity and its intrinsic link to a happier existence, n.d.). These curious individuals take that extra step to truly learn the tendencies of another’s behaviors and actions which then allows for the strong bond to form. Ultimately, this attribute allows one to be more open minded and also enables one to see the world through many different perspectives, which reaps benefits of happiness as their own persona undergoes a positive change.On the other side of the curiosity coin lies the bad and what it carries with such as conspiracy. When the topic of conspiracy theory is brought up, the conversations sparked normally involve ideas including secret societies and their evil intentions for the world. This is often seen here in the United States. Sadly, tragic events such as a terrorist attack, assassination, or government secrets are the ones that have left a drastic impact on the country and its citizens. The theories that spawn from these situations can specifically include, the truth behind 9/11, Area 51, Martin Luther King assassination, and countless of other theories CITATION Fra19 \l 1033 (Olito, 2019). Once these misfortunes take place, there is an immediate swarm of reactions that directly come from the growing uncertainty. As concern rises, peace within the masses becomes much more difficult to maintain. As an expected response to societal stress, people begin to use their curious minds attempting to piece together information that can ease their feelings of stress and uncertainty. When a large group of people are all impacted by the same issue, many different perspectives of what happened surface the media and the rise of conspiracy begins as these individuals give their take on the truth behind these mysterious yet tragic events. Without enabling this trait, people would not be able to think outside the box and would never accomplish or solve threats that loom over human society. 9/11 was proven to be the works of terrorist group Al-Qaeda. While the consensus indeed is that they were behind the attacks, the curious individuals who thought outside the norm were able to generate a theory about the attacks which places the blame on then incumbent president George W. Bush. While this scenario does not benefit an entire society, it shows how curiosity can take one to great extents.These very same motives are present in modern conspiracy thinking. Theories do indeed often arise during times of stress CITATION Jol20 \l 1033 (Jolley & Lamberty, 2020). Tragic events mean that there will be a tremendous amount of chaos within many different people. The results of this are endless questions that lead one to a dead end. As people continue to seek clarity of these situations, they become exposed to conspiracy theories that have begun to gain popularity. These theories offer a potential fulfillment to many citizens’ quest. A conspiracy feeds off of rumors and inaccuracy. As both of them grow, the new information that surfaces can be added to the repertoire of beliefs and information for a certain theory. While this seems to have beneficial results for those searching answers through conspiracy theory, feeding off inaccuracy only leads to further uncertainty. Something that mankind may never be is perfect. Reaching a feat of such magnitude requires high advancement of everyday human life. With that said, although never intended to happen, tragic events may just be expected to happen at some point in life. With that harsh reality, comes the fact that humanity will have to deal with incoming conspiracies for years to come.“The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories” is a study that details the cognition behind those who choose to believe in a conspiracy theory. There are three different motives that are explained by the authors. These are Social (the wanting of a positive image for the group and oneself), existential (feeling safe and in control of surrounding environment), and epistemic (understanding one’s surrounding environment). These motives all offer great insight and ideas as to why an individual might begin to put their trust and belief into a theory. Moreover, these motives are what drives curiosity in the first place as all three are omnipresent for all people. When one is interfered with, the curiosity factor is sparked. These motives however do also offer value for one simply longing to gain certainty. Whether or not this leads to conspiracy belief has many deciding factors.At the core of all three motives is a desire for certainty. With the epistemic motive, when an individual is confused or deprived of information about something that happened around them, they become eager to find an answer to the source of their unwanted stress CITATION Kar17 \l 1033 (Douglas, 2017). Something empowering this is the curiosity factor being ignited. An individual will use this trait by piecing together bits of available information to create a potential answer about the event that inflicted feelings of stress and fear. Curiosity pushes one to continue searching for answers so that they can fulfill their motive to regain control over their surroundings. Often times, the situation may be something small that only inflicts stress or harm to one person. This usually can be solved by the individual without too much work. During a time of societal stress, when multiple families are stressed, the growth of conspiracies will begin as they can relate to many more people and help ease the tension within a group of people CITATION Jol20 \l 1033 (Jolley & Lamberty, 2020). Having a similar definition and role as the epistemic motive is the existential one. This is the objective of having safe feelings about one’s surrounding environment. This certainly has close ties with the epistemic view. However, this portion adds an element of safety to the equation CITATION Kar17 \l 1033 (Douglas, 2017). Assuming one has been able to maintain a complete understanding of their environment and its outcomes, the feeling of safety naturally presents itself. Once that condition is altered, curiosity receives a companion in fear. The two begin to work together which ignites the return to certainty.The former (curiosity), acts similar to one’s hunger. When someone is hungry, they seek to immediately reduce the feeling as hunger is not the most pleasant. An individual in a sense will begin a rather simple yet satisfying quest to fulfill their hunger by eating CITATION Kid15 \l 1033 (Kidd, 2015). Curiosity serves the same role by influencing one to take the risks and search for the answers to their questions. This is the way one eats to fill their curious minds. One begins to act in different ways as they receive fuel to regain control over this motive. The second element in fear is what directly alters the motive. Fear is also never welcomed, to assure it does not return, the existing curiosity receives a boost which gives the individual more drive to regain their fulfillment of the existential motive. To also prevent this fear from returning, the curiosity of the individual stays in drive as they make sure to prevent its return.When a matter big enough to impact many people’s sense of control over their surroundings has yet to be controlled, and has no legitimate answers with clear evidence, the conspiracies that relate will likely become their end route as it gives them just what they seek which is certainty CITATION Max20 \l 1033 (Read, 2020). A conspiracy theory can include any amount of people. However, the general ideas of them are bigger societal issues that include public figures, world leaders, and extraterrestrial life CITATION Fra19 \l 1033 (Olito, 2019). It is during these occasions that one generally might begin to trust a theory. A theory with a large following will indeed receive false information however the amount they receive in general is enough to provide their way of satisfaction. These motives are present every day in life and when one’s feeling of uncertainty stems from something that inflicted it on many others as well, conspiracies begin to thrive.Columnist Arthur C. Brooks penned an article on The Washington Post’s opinions page. The entry focused on an idea that those who believe in a conspiracy theory are the same people who display “mistaken thinking” or “cognitive error” CITATION Bro19 \l 1033 (Brooks, 2019). Something that may relate to Brooks’ claim is the fact that one choosing to believe in a theory could simply be run-away curiosity. The motives we seek to fulfill can very well be satisfied by a conspiracy theory. Except the amount of satisfaction is different for all people who choose to believe in them. One person who may exhibit more curiosity, and a more open-mindedness approach to life, may become infatuated with the end results of a conspiracy theory. The opposite of this scenario would be an individual continuing to search for clarity as they realize a theory is only based off of what others have heard and the information is likely to be mixed up as it goes through many people. For the ones who become content with a conspiracy, it likely could simply be their curious mind playing with the ideas that the theory offers and thus creating the run-away curiosity. A conspiracy is something that is well deserving of a word like phenomenon. Their creation can hold responsibility for a great amount of results such as potential actions that one will take from their belief in a therory. Nonetheless, being a part or simply knowing about well-known or even smaller conspiracy theories is all about the human experience. This marvel holds an intrinsic value to life as its spawn often comes from our everyday lust to have certainty in life and our curious minds that never settle and long for new information. Although a theory may not be the complete answer that is backed up with evidence, it still is able to provide numerous people with a feeling of satisfaction to their motives. Theories will continue to be proof that humanity is not perfect and that the truth will always be a complicated matter for humans and everyone’s quest for always maintaining a good feeling of certainty in life.References BIBLIOGRAPHY Brooks, A. (2019, September 3). Conspiracy theories are a dangerous threat to our democracy. Retrieved from The Washington Post : , K. M. (2017). The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories. Sage Journals, 538-542.Jolley, D., & Lamberty, P. (2020, March 3). Conspiracy theories are spreading faster than the coronavirus. Here’s how they impact us al. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: , H. (2015). The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron, 449-460.Old Testament Stories. (1980). Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Olito, F. (2019, July 12). 35 of the most popular conspiracy theories in the US. Retrieved from Insider: , M. (2020, February 6). 5 Theories About Conspiracy Theories. Retrieved from Intelligencer: curious case of curiosity and its intrinsic link to a happier existence. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Guardian : ................
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