Scientists have found out which people tend to believe in conspiracy theories

Studies show that belief in conspiracy theories is usually combined with personality traits such as:

• low level of critical thinking,

• the need to feel special

• addiction to “adrenaline” and sensations.

However, attempts to find out how the approval of conspiracy theories and political beliefs are related have shown conflicting results.

To understand this issue, a large international group of researchers whose article published In the magazine Nature Human Behaviour, analyzed data on more than 104 thousand people from 26 countries.

Each participant in the study had to rate their political orientation on a single scale of the political spectrum – from the extreme left to the extreme right, and also indicate which party they would vote for or voted for in previous elections. 

In addition, the participants were tested for conspiracy mentality – they had to indicate how much they agreed with statements such as “I think there are secret organizations that have a great influence on political decisions.”

As a result, the researchers concluded that there is a U-shaped relationship between belief in conspiracy theories and political beliefs.

That is, the conspiracy mentality is most characteristic of representatives of the extreme left and extreme right wing of the political spectrum.  

The reasons why people who hold extreme political views tend to believe in conspiracy theories are not exactly clear yet. The researchers suggest that with the help of conspiracy theories, supporters of extreme ideologies can explain to themselves that their representatives are absent from the government.

Another hypothesis suggests that there are, in fact, many similarities between the far left and the far right, and this commonality is associated with conspiracy theories. Supporters of such ideologies, for example, tend to demonize those who do not share their views and view authoritarianism with approval.