Two Minds Blog

Conspiracy thinking is common and problematic: From one-third to one-half of Americans endorse conspiracy theories related to Qanon, the COVID-19 pandemic, or both, with smaller but still substantial percentages believing in longer-standing conspiracy theories related to climate change, UFOs, assassinations, fluoride, genetically-modified foods, broadcast signals, Pearl Harbor, medical science, or fluorescent lights. I previously wrote about Intuitive-level cues that might make false news items more convincing to people, and some research has shown that conspiracy beliefs are more likely among people who simply use their Narrative system less . But in this post, I will argue that many sources of conspiracy thinking are simple logical errors that exploit vulnerabilities of the Narrative mind. To take a relatively harmless example, let's examine a conspiracy belief that scientists are concealing the existence of the Loch Ness Monster . The Conspiracy Theory Handbook  uses the acron

About 2.5 out of every 100 Americans is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a very heritable mental illness that is characterized by cyclical periods of intense negative or positive mood. A particularly strong cognitive characteristic of the manic (very positive) mood state is a lack of impulse control. This can result in people spending money at a rapid pace, jumping on a plane at a moment's notice, quitting a job without thinking it through, or taking up with a new romantic partner without consideration for existing relationships. Impulsive behavior is generally seen as reflecting problems with executive functioning, a mental ability that's strongly localized in the prefrontal cortex and therefore associated with the logical, sequential, and language-based Narrative mind.  In a detailed analysis of specific mental functions, Bora et al. found that response inhibition  was the most pronounced cognitive problem associated with bipolar disorder. This was true even among people wit