9 Reasons People Believe In Conspiracy Theories

7. We're Living In Our Own Heads

Just by virtue of being a human being, you are already primed to believe in conspiracy theories, or at least, listen to your own biases.

Most psychological research tends to suggest that everyone, and I mean everyone, is much more likely to trust their own reasoning, memory, perceptions and values over others, even if they are shown evidence to the contrary. What's more, once we form an opinion, we are subject to a confirmation bias, which means that we are more likely to take on board supporting evidence whilst dismissing contradictory evidence out of hand.

Our entire perception of the world is based more or less on an illusion created by our brains and, whilst we might have an illusion of objectivity, we are simply wired to base our worldview on assumption, subjectivity and instinct, as opposed to objectivity, logic and deduction.

Now, this doesn't necessarily tell us why people form their beliefs in the first place, but it does go some way to explaining why conspiracy theorists can remain so convinced, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.