9 Reasons People Believe In Conspiracy Theories
4. The Backfire Effect
Ever wondered why someone would continue to believe in a conspiracy, even after being proven comprehensively and indisputably wrong? It's due to an irritating phenomenon known as the "backfire effect".
Experiments have shown that sometimes when a person is presented with evidence that contradicts their worldview, they don't just dismiss it, but their beliefs actually get stronger. This essentially means that arguing with a conspiracy theorist about GMOs, chemtrails, vaccines, moon landings and anything else could not only be futile but actively damaging.
It's like cleaning your ears with a Q-tip: It feels great at the time, but is actually pushing the crud even further in.
It's not sure what causes the effect - whether confirmation bias is so strong that people are finding support for their view in even contradictory evidence, or whether the act of refutation feeds into a persecution complex that is so often found at the heart of many conspiracies. After all, if somebody thinks you're lying to them, why would they believe a word you say?