From beliefs about government cover-ups to theories about secret societies controlling world events, conspiracy theories have become increasingly prevalent in our digital age. While anyone can encounter these ideas, research reveals that certain personality traits make some individuals far more susceptible to conspiratorial thinking than others. Understanding this psychological landscape not only helps us comprehend why conspiracy theories spread but also offers insights into the fundamental ways our personalities shape what we choose to believe.
Recent meta-analyses examining over 158,000 participants have identified specific personality patterns that consistently predict conspiracy theory endorsement. This article explores the fascinating intersection of personality psychology and belief formation, revealing how traits like narcissism, schizotypy, and paranoia create the perfect psychological conditions for conspiratorial thinking to take root.
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The Strongest Predictors: Beyond the Big Five
While researchers initially expected the Big Five personality traits to strongly predict conspiracy beliefs, comprehensive meta-analyses tell a different story. Meta-analysis revealed that agreeableness, openness to experience, and the remaining Big Five personality factors were not significantly associated with conspiracy beliefs if effect sizes are aggregated, according to research published in Frontiers in Psychology.
Instead, more specific personality characteristics emerged as the key predictors. On average, people who believe in pseudoscience, suffer from paranoia or schizotypy, are narcissistic or religious/spiritual and have relatively low cognitive ability, are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories , as revealed by a comprehensive meta-analysis examining 686 correlations across 127 independent samples.
Schizotypy: The Strongest Predictor
The most robust predictor of conspiracy beliefs is schizotypy—a constellation of personality traits that includes magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, and paranoid ideation. Our results clearly showed that the strongest predictor of conspiracy belief was a constellation of personality characteristics collectively referred to as 'schizotypy' , according to psychology professor Joshua Hart's research at Union College.
David Barron, a schizotypy researcher at Perdana University, explains the connection: Schizotypic traits have a similar pattern to that of schizophrenia; that is, deficits in cognition, socio-emotional function, and behaviour. While these tend not meet the clinical threshold, and at some level represent a healthy personality make-up, they can be rather extreme and become a severe problem .
Specific facets of schizotypy show particularly strong links to conspiratorial thinking. Those who scored high on measures of "Odd Beliefs and Magical Thinking" and "Ideas of Reference" were more likely to believe in conspiracy theories . Magical thinking involves seeing causal relationships where none exist, while ideas of reference means interpreting innocent events as personally significant.
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The Narcissism Connection: Why Self-Importance Fuels Conspiracy Beliefs
Narcissism emerges as another powerful predictor of conspiracy theory endorsement. Narcissism—a conviction about one's superiority and entitlement to special treatment—is a robust predictor of belief in conspiracy theories , according to research published in Current Opinion in Psychology.
The appeal to narcissists is multifaceted. Tylor Cosgrove, a PhD candidate at Bond University studying this connection, explains: (Conspiracy theories) offer them the feeling of being privy to information that most people aren't and of being smarter than all the 'sheep' . This aligns with narcissists' fundamental need to feel special and superior to others.
The Three Components of Narcissistic Conspiracy Attraction
Recent research identifies three key aspects of narcissism that drive conspiracy beliefs:
- Agentic extraversion: The desire for dominance and control makes conspiracy theories appealing as they provide a sense of understanding hidden power structures.
- Antagonism: Distrust and hostility toward others creates openness to theories that cast groups as malevolent.
- Neuroticism: Underlying insecurity and emotional volatility make conspiracy theories attractive as explanations for personal distress.
The need to remain in control during times of uncertainty, such as a pandemic, can lead narcissists to seize on outlandish claims to make themselves feel like they are still in control of their lives , researchers from the University of Kent and Polish Academy of Sciences explain.
"Conspiracy theorists are not all likely to be simple-minded, mentally unwell folks – a portrait which is routinely painted in popular culture. Instead, many turn to conspiracy theories to fulfill deprived motivational needs and make sense of distress and impairment." — Dr. Shauna Bowes, Emory University
The Education Paradox: When Knowledge Backfires
One of the most surprising findings in conspiracy theory research concerns the role of education. While higher education typically protects against conspiracy beliefs, this protective effect disappears—and may even reverse—for people with narcissistic traits.
In the context of conspiracy beliefs, education is usually what we call a 'protective' factor – so usually people that are more educated are less likely to believe in conspiracy theories. But from the research we did, that doesn't appear to be true for narcissists. We found that when narcissists are highly educated it doesn't make them less likely to believe a conspiracy .
This counterintuitive finding suggests that education may actually increase narcissists' confidence in their beliefs rather than encouraging critical evaluation. It may be that education simply increases some narcissists' self-confidence, making them more gullible and less likely to rationally examine and question their views .
Cognitive Reflection as Protection
While education fails to protect narcissists from conspiracy beliefs, cognitive reflection—the tendency to override intuitive responses and engage in analytical thinking—does provide some protection. The findings suggest that cognitive reflection, but not education protect against narcissistic conspiracy belief .
Paranoia and Threat Sensitivity
Paranoid ideation represents another crucial personality factor in conspiracy beliefs. These people tend to be more suspicious, untrusting, eccentric, needing to feel special, with a tendency to regard the world as an inherently dangerous place , Hart explains in his research.
This heightened threat sensitivity creates a psychological environment where conspiracy theories feel not just plausible but necessary. Individuals high in paranoia are more likely to interpret ambiguous situations as threatening and to assume malevolent intent from others.
The Dark Triad and Conspiratorial Thinking
Beyond narcissism, other "dark" personality traits also predict conspiracy beliefs. Results of the current study indicate that individuals who have odd beliefs/magical thinking, and who are strategic, manipulative, dominant, and callous are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories .
Research examining the Dark Triad—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—reveals that people who believe in conspiracy theories are often people who would be likely to conspire themselves. Narcissists, being quite controlling and manipulative, if they found themselves in a position of power, they probably would be more likely to conspire .
Motivational Drivers: What Conspiracy Theories Fulfill
The researchers found that overall, people were motivated to believe in conspiracy theories by a need to understand and feel safe in their environment and a need to feel like the community they identify with is superior to others .
These motivations can be categorized into three primary types:
- Epistemic needs: The desire for understanding and certainty in an uncertain world
- Existential needs: The need for control and security
- Social needs: The desire to maintain positive views of oneself and one's group
Importantly, Even though many conspiracy theories seem to provide clarity or a supposed secret truth about confusing events, a need for closure or a sense of control were not the strongest motivators to endorse conspiracy theories .
The Complexity Beyond Simple Explanations
The study just referenced found that the "Big Five" personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) did not seem to have a strong correlation with belief in conspiracy theories . This finding challenges assumptions about conspiracy believers and highlights the need for more nuanced understanding.
Those who strongly believed in conspiracy theories were also more likely to be insecure, paranoid, emotionally volatile, impulsive, suspicious, withdrawn, manipulative, egocentric and eccentric . However, The Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism) had a much weaker relationship with conspiratorial thinking .
Implications for Understanding and Intervention
Understanding the personality psychology behind conspiracy beliefs has important implications for addressing their spread. Traditional approaches focusing on fact-checking and education may be insufficient, particularly for individuals with certain personality profiles.
These findings are important from a practical point-of-view, highlighting possible intervention routes for reducing conspiracist beliefs, either by targeting schizotypal traits indirectly or cognitive factors directly .
For narcissistic individuals, alternative approaches may be needed. Pre-bunking may appeal to the narcissist's need to be the smartest person in the room , suggesting that educating people about how conspiracy theories work before they encounter them might be more effective than debunking afterward.
The Broader Picture: Personality and Belief Formation
The relationship between personality and conspiracy beliefs illuminates broader questions about how our psychological makeup influences what we choose to believe. Either way, it is important to realize that when reality is ambiguous, our personalities and cognitive biases cause us to adopt the beliefs that we do. This knowledge can help us understand our own intuitions .
This research doesn't suggest that certain personality types are inherently "good" or "bad," but rather that different psychological configurations create different vulnerabilities and strengths in our relationship with information and belief.
Moving Forward: A Nuanced Understanding
The psychology of conspiracy theories reveals a complex interplay between personality traits, motivational needs, and cognitive processes. Rather than simple demographic categories, the research points to specific psychological configurations—involving schizotypy, narcissism, paranoia, and other factors—that create susceptibility to conspiratorial thinking.
Understanding these patterns offers hope for more targeted and effective approaches to promoting critical thinking and reducing the harmful effects of false beliefs. By recognizing the psychological needs that conspiracy theories attempt to fulfill, we can work toward healthier ways of meeting those same fundamental human needs for understanding, security, and significance.
The goal isn't to eliminate all unconventional thinking—skepticism and questioning authority can be healthy and necessary. Rather, it's to promote the kind of analytical thinking that distinguishes between legitimate skepticism and unfounded conspiracy beliefs, helping individuals navigate an increasingly complex information landscape with wisdom and discernment.