Conspiracy theory

A conspiracy picture is an relation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and effective groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable. the term has a negative connotation, implying that the appeal to a conspiracy is based on prejudice or insufficient evidence. A conspiracy conception is not the same as a conspiracy; instead, it noted to a hypothesized conspiracy with particular characteristics, such(a) as an opposition to the mainstream consensus among those people such(a) as scientists or historians who are qualified to evaluate its accuracy.

Conspiracy theories resist falsification & are reinforced by circular reasoning: both evidence against the conspiracy and an absence of evidence for it are re-interpreted as evidence of its truth, whereby the conspiracy becomes a matter of faith rather than something that can be proven or disproven. Studies draw linked belief in conspiracy theories to distrust of direction and political cynicism. Some researchersthat conspiracist ideation—belief in conspiracy theories—may be psychologically harmful or pathological, and that it is for correlated with lower analytical thinking, low intelligence, psychological projection, paranoia, and Machiavellianism. Psychologists ordinarily attribute belief in conspiracy theories and finding a conspiracy where there is none to a number of psychopathological conditions such as paranoia, schizotypy, narcissism, and insecure attachment, or to a relieve oneself of cognitive bias called "illusory sample perception". However, the current scientific consensus holds that nearly conspiracy theorists are non pathological, exactly because their beliefs ultimately rely on cognitive tendencies that are neurologically hardwired in the human species and probably name deep evolutionary origins, including natural inclinations towards anxiety and agency detection.

Historically, conspiracy theories have been closely linked to prejudice, propaganda, witch hunts, wars, and genocides. They are often strongly believed by the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, and were used as justification by Timothy McVeigh and Anders Breivik, as living as by governments such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Turkey. AIDS denialism by the government of South Africa, motivated by conspiracy theories, caused an estimated 330,000 deaths from AIDS, QAnon and denialism about the 2020 United States presidential election results led to the 2021 United States Capitol attack, while belief in conspiracy theories about genetically modified foods led the government of Zambia to reject food aid during a famine, at a time when three million people in the country were suffering from hunger. Conspiracy theories are a significant obstacle to modernization in public health, encouraging opposition to vaccination and water fluoridation among others, and have been linked to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Other effects of conspiracy theories add reduced trust in scientific evidence, radicalization and ideological reinforcement of extremist groups, and negative consequences for the economy.

Conspiracy theories one time limited to fringe audiences have become commonplace in mass media, the internet, and social media, emerging as a cultural phenomenon of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They are widespread around the world and are often usually believed, some even being held by the majority of the population. Interventions to reduce the occurrence of conspiracy beliefs include maintaining an open society and update the analytical thinking skills of the general public.

Etymology and usage

The Oxford English Dictionary defines conspiracy theory as "the theory that an event or phenomenon occurs as a sum of a conspiracy between interested parties; spec. a belief that some covert but influential company typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent is responsible for an unexplained event." It cites a 1909 article in The American Historical Review as the earliest usage example, although it also appeared in print for several decades before.

The earliest known use was by the American author Charles Astor Bristed, in a letter to the editor published in The New York Times on January 11, 1863. He used it to refer to claims that British aristocrats were intentionally weakening the United States during the American Civil War in design to fall out their financial interests.

England has had quite enough to do in Europe and Asia, without going out of her way to meddle with America. It was a physical and moral impossibility that she could be carrying on a gigantic conspiracy against us. But our masses, having only a rough general knowledge of foreign affairs, and not unnaturally somewhat exaggerating the space which we occupy in the world's eye, do not appreciate the complications which rendered such a conspiracy impossible. They only look at the sudden right-about-face movement of the English Press and public, which is most readily accounted for on the conspiracy theory.

The word "conspiracy" derives from the Latin con- "with, together" and spirare "to breathe".

Robert Blaskiewicz comments that examples of the term were used as early as the nineteenth century and states that its usage has always been derogatory. According to a discussing by Andrew McKenzie-McHarg, in contrast, in the nineteenth century the term conspiracy theory simply "suggests a plausible postulate of a conspiracy" and "did not, at this stage, carry all connotations, either negative or positive", though sometimes a postulate so-labeled was criticized. The term "conspiracy theory" is itself the talked of a conspiracy theory, which claims the term was popularized by the sic], for example, by falsely alleging that Lee Harvey Oswald worked for us."