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23 May 2012
From counterpoint .uk .com
counterpoint.uk.com/project-pu…
Far right populist parties’ tend to make frequent reference to ‘others’ or an ’out-group’ – usually in terms of either not belonging to ‘the nation’ or ‘the people’. Most often, this is accompanied by a ‘fear of the other’, a xenophobic perspective on the socio-political environment. This contributes to the creation of ‘us versus them’ social divisions. A variety of tools and tactics are used to increase these schisms, or cleavages, in society.
One rather understudied and underestimated tool for this is the creation or the use of conspiracy theories. In Counterpoint, Political Capital and partner’s joint project we are studying these processes and trying to find ways of assessing their impact. A necessary first step is open up the important question: How do conspiracy theories work at an individual level? In other words, how do they appeal to people? In this article, Steven Van Hauwert suggests that cognitive shortcuts play an import role.
The role of cognitive shortcuts
By Steven Van Hauwaert
As human beings, we try to explain and analyse events or situations that can have a possible emotional effect on us. In today’s world, perfect rationality (i.e. full information) is impossible, and neither can necessarily rely on academic or scientific information all the time. Very often it is even difficult to describe the possible causal mechanisms that lie at the origins of such emotional effects. Therefore, when something proves difficult to explain, people often resort to more speculative (and extreme) explanations in order to find closure and to provide their cognitions with a plausible justification. In other words, it is in people’s nature to search for answers to the ‘why’ question, especially when it concerns the ‘ego’.
A conspiracy theory has the ability to provide enough rationale for a ‘comprehensive’ explanation, or at least a perceived ‘comprehensive’ explanation. The key concept that makes this possible is the ‘attribution of responsibility’. A conspiracy theory attributes responsibility for a certain occurrence or a sequence of occurrences to an external group. For instance, ‘the CIA’, ‘the Jews’ or the ‘Freemasons’. This creates a feeling of exclusion or insignificance on the part of those who looking to rationalise their emotional response to the occurrence. Chiming with some versions of populist politics, a conspiracy theory thus creates an in-group (in this case the ‘hostile cabal’) and an out-group (in this case the ‘us or I’), which in turn reinforces the cognitive interpretation of the occurrence and turns it into a confirmation bias.
A conspiracy theory attributes responsibility for a certain occurrence or a sequence of occurrences to an external group.
Cognitive psychology tells us that both the conscious and the unconscious psyche have a great impact on people’s perceptions and how they solve problems. It is the psyche, more specifically, how we cognitively perceive society, which is used to explain occurrences. When an explanation is provided, or a theory is proposed, one of the principal questions we seek to answer is who benefits from the event or situation that disengages our emotional response (e.g. an assassination, a cover-up, a scandal, etc.). Under the assumptions that full information is impossible and that cognitive shortcuts are often biased or normative, the creation of a conspiracy theory as a somewhat ‘rational’ explanation is often not far away.
Literature on the subject generally agrees that the majority of conspiracy theories are not correct (or are presently unfounded). Historically, most conspiracy theories of the sort politically relevant here, have been disproven and evidence against them has been overwhelming. Such findings result from the same basic psychological need to find answers to the W-questions of an occurrence that triggers possible emotional responses. With the media development since the 1960s, the television since the 1980s and the social media revolution in the past decade, the possibilities to acquire and process information have increased exponentially. The speed at which findings, and also theories, are being replaced or (at best) updated has never been at the level it is today.
The existing paradigms, their perception and their interpretation are constantly changing. However, once a person’s mental state (i.e. beliefs, ideas, motivations, knowledge, values, norms, etc) has accepted conspiracy theory as a viable explanation, he or she becomes more susceptible to popular beliefs and further conspiracy theories, and cognitions will not be easily changed. Existing anomalies in analytical reasoning or new and better cognitive shortcuts are often ignored or put (temporarily) aside until they become incontournable. In other words, new and alternative analytical approaches that help explain events and occurrences previously believed to be explained by conspiracy theories often fail to settle in the psyche of people until their value has been widely acknowledged and proven.
Cognitive shortcuts have a primary function in how people’s cognition is shaped; they form the main barrier between human cognition and societal information. Not only do they serve as a gatekeeper or a filter of information; they also contribute to how a person psychologically assesses the information made available to him or her. Therefore, the value and the role of cognitive shortcuts should not be underestimated. Cognitive shortcuts are an important explanation for why, how and which conspiracy theories appeal to people.
Steven Van Hauwert is a researcher working, amongst other things, on preparing a literature review on conspiracy theory in France, as well as assisting in the execution of a survey on belief in conspiracy theory and interpretation of the results.
Further suggested reading
Johnson, G., 1983. Architects of Fear: Conspiracy Theories of Paranoia in American Politics. Boston: Houghton: Mifflin.
Tackett, T., 2000. Conspiracy Obsession in a Time of Revolution: French Elites and the Origins of the Terror, 1789-1792. American Historical Review, 105 (3), pp.691-713.
Hofstadter, R.. 1964. The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and Other Essays. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Wood, G.S., 1982. Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style: Causality and Deceit in the Eighteenth Century. William and Mary Quarterly, 39 (3), pp.402-41.
Keeley, B., 1999. Of Conspiracy Theories. Journal of Philosophy, 96 (3), pp.109-26
Research supported by the OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS
From counterpoint .uk .com
counterpoint.uk.com/project-pu…
Far right populist parties’ tend to make frequent reference to ‘others’ or an ’out-group’ – usually in terms of either not belonging to ‘the nation’ or ‘the people’. Most often, this is accompanied by a ‘fear of the other’, a xenophobic perspective on the socio-political environment. This contributes to the creation of ‘us versus them’ social divisions. A variety of tools and tactics are used to increase these schisms, or cleavages, in society.
One rather understudied and underestimated tool for this is the creation or the use of conspiracy theories. In Counterpoint, Political Capital and partner’s joint project we are studying these processes and trying to find ways of assessing their impact. A necessary first step is open up the important question: How do conspiracy theories work at an individual level? In other words, how do they appeal to people? In this article, Steven Van Hauwert suggests that cognitive shortcuts play an import role.
The role of cognitive shortcuts
By Steven Van Hauwaert
As human beings, we try to explain and analyse events or situations that can have a possible emotional effect on us. In today’s world, perfect rationality (i.e. full information) is impossible, and neither can necessarily rely on academic or scientific information all the time. Very often it is even difficult to describe the possible causal mechanisms that lie at the origins of such emotional effects. Therefore, when something proves difficult to explain, people often resort to more speculative (and extreme) explanations in order to find closure and to provide their cognitions with a plausible justification. In other words, it is in people’s nature to search for answers to the ‘why’ question, especially when it concerns the ‘ego’.
A conspiracy theory has the ability to provide enough rationale for a ‘comprehensive’ explanation, or at least a perceived ‘comprehensive’ explanation. The key concept that makes this possible is the ‘attribution of responsibility’. A conspiracy theory attributes responsibility for a certain occurrence or a sequence of occurrences to an external group. For instance, ‘the CIA’, ‘the Jews’ or the ‘Freemasons’. This creates a feeling of exclusion or insignificance on the part of those who looking to rationalise their emotional response to the occurrence. Chiming with some versions of populist politics, a conspiracy theory thus creates an in-group (in this case the ‘hostile cabal’) and an out-group (in this case the ‘us or I’), which in turn reinforces the cognitive interpretation of the occurrence and turns it into a confirmation bias.
A conspiracy theory attributes responsibility for a certain occurrence or a sequence of occurrences to an external group.
Cognitive psychology tells us that both the conscious and the unconscious psyche have a great impact on people’s perceptions and how they solve problems. It is the psyche, more specifically, how we cognitively perceive society, which is used to explain occurrences. When an explanation is provided, or a theory is proposed, one of the principal questions we seek to answer is who benefits from the event or situation that disengages our emotional response (e.g. an assassination, a cover-up, a scandal, etc.). Under the assumptions that full information is impossible and that cognitive shortcuts are often biased or normative, the creation of a conspiracy theory as a somewhat ‘rational’ explanation is often not far away.
Literature on the subject generally agrees that the majority of conspiracy theories are not correct (or are presently unfounded). Historically, most conspiracy theories of the sort politically relevant here, have been disproven and evidence against them has been overwhelming. Such findings result from the same basic psychological need to find answers to the W-questions of an occurrence that triggers possible emotional responses. With the media development since the 1960s, the television since the 1980s and the social media revolution in the past decade, the possibilities to acquire and process information have increased exponentially. The speed at which findings, and also theories, are being replaced or (at best) updated has never been at the level it is today.
The existing paradigms, their perception and their interpretation are constantly changing. However, once a person’s mental state (i.e. beliefs, ideas, motivations, knowledge, values, norms, etc) has accepted conspiracy theory as a viable explanation, he or she becomes more susceptible to popular beliefs and further conspiracy theories, and cognitions will not be easily changed. Existing anomalies in analytical reasoning or new and better cognitive shortcuts are often ignored or put (temporarily) aside until they become incontournable. In other words, new and alternative analytical approaches that help explain events and occurrences previously believed to be explained by conspiracy theories often fail to settle in the psyche of people until their value has been widely acknowledged and proven.
Cognitive shortcuts have a primary function in how people’s cognition is shaped; they form the main barrier between human cognition and societal information. Not only do they serve as a gatekeeper or a filter of information; they also contribute to how a person psychologically assesses the information made available to him or her. Therefore, the value and the role of cognitive shortcuts should not be underestimated. Cognitive shortcuts are an important explanation for why, how and which conspiracy theories appeal to people.
Steven Van Hauwert is a researcher working, amongst other things, on preparing a literature review on conspiracy theory in France, as well as assisting in the execution of a survey on belief in conspiracy theory and interpretation of the results.
Further suggested reading
Johnson, G., 1983. Architects of Fear: Conspiracy Theories of Paranoia in American Politics. Boston: Houghton: Mifflin.
Tackett, T., 2000. Conspiracy Obsession in a Time of Revolution: French Elites and the Origins of the Terror, 1789-1792. American Historical Review, 105 (3), pp.691-713.
Hofstadter, R.. 1964. The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and Other Essays. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Wood, G.S., 1982. Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style: Causality and Deceit in the Eighteenth Century. William and Mary Quarterly, 39 (3), pp.402-41.
Keeley, B., 1999. Of Conspiracy Theories. Journal of Philosophy, 96 (3), pp.109-26
Research supported by the OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS
Bunny Brotherhood
:thumb533795568:
The Bunny Brotherhood
Do a quick Google images search of the word 'bunny', and what will dominate gives you quite a cute fluffy eyeful, but wait.... you haven't looked hard enough... you haven't seen the truth, we as human beings have been deceived.
Just a closer look and very quickly photos from around the world show the REAL bunnies...their devious plans become more obvious....our need to respond becomes more critical.... because onward they march (hop), growing their families and changing the cultural makeup of every country in which they live. Laugh... laugh you say at their cute furry little tails, and their adorable wi
Vote for my poem! :3
https://www.poetrynook.com/content/portrait-soul#.VMvFCGlMnWQ.tumblr
https://www.poetrynook.com/contest/12th-weekly-poetry-contest
I entered portrait of the soul in a poetry contest :) Please look at and comment even vote for my poem to win :) Its my first somewhat poetry contest I've entered so please vote and wish me luck.
Be sure to register and vote by the way on the site :) So please show your love and vote for me. I know many of you enjoy my poetry so please pray and vote for me to win. :) It would be a dream come true if one of my poems is published in an anthology.
National Recovery Administration
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Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recovery_Administration
The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was the primary New Deal agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal was to eliminate "cut-throat competition" by bringing industry, labor and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices. The NRA was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and allowed industries to get together and write "codes of fair competition." The codes
The Mickey Mouse Protection Act
wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
Copyright Term Extension Act
The Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998 extended copyright terms in the United States. Since the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for a work of corporate authorship. The Act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever endpoint is earlier. Copyright protection for works published prior to January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from the
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People who sneer down their noses at "conspiracy theories" are generally the ones with psychological impairments in my experience. Never mind the fact that the term itself, conspiracy theory, was a psychological operation implemented by the CIA in the wake of the first Kennedy assassination. If conspiracy deniers didn't generally have the most superficial understanding of history, they would realize that powerful groups have conspired in secret to shape most major historical events. Conspiracy is the norm, not the exception. And to say that this understanding is somehow comforting to "conspiracy theorists" is just asinine. On the contrary, it is far more disturbing to realize, to use the example of 9/11, that powerful players in the American government consider their own citizens to be expendable pawns in a bid to further their agenda, than it is to believe that a radical group with limited resources, halfway across the world, hates us for our freedoms. Of course, not all "conspiracy theories" are created equal. Some are simplistic and ill-informed, and these are the ones which defenders of the Establishment are delighted to latch onto as convenient straw men. This does not change the fact that there exists a vast body serious and well-sourced research into deep politics.
In this video, psychologists discuss the cognitive dissonance, trauma, and other factors which prevent conspiracy deniers from developing the emotional maturity to face the reality of criminal conspiracies in high places.
In this video, psychologists discuss the cognitive dissonance, trauma, and other factors which prevent conspiracy deniers from developing the emotional maturity to face the reality of criminal conspiracies in high places.