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Research Paper Topic Presentation. Chris Chia-hao Chianglin. Introduction. TOPIC: Why Do People Believe in Conspiracies ?. What is “conspiracy”?. Conspiracy = Conspiracy theory. What is “conspiracy”?. According to Wikipedia :
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Research Paper TopicPresentation Chris Chia-haoChianglin
Introduction • TOPIC: Why Do People Believe in Conspiracies?
What is “conspiracy”? Conspiracy =Conspiracy theory
What is “conspiracy”? • According to Wikipedia: “A conspiracy theory explains a historical or current event as a result of a secret plot by exceptionally powerful and cunning conspirators to achieve a malevolent end.” Malevolent: having or showing a desire to harm other people
What is “conspiracy”? • Michael Shermer • With a documentary filmmaker • Exposing the conspiracy behind 9/11
What is “conspiracy”? • M: You mean the conspiracy by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to attack the United States? • DF: That’s what they want you to believe. • M:Who is they? • DF:But didn’t Osama and some members of al Qaeda not only say they did it? • M:Theygloated about what a glorious triumph it was?
What is “conspiracy”? • DF:Oh, you’re talking about that video of Osama. • M:That was faked by the CIA and leaked to the American press to mislead us. There has been a disinformation campaign going on ever since 9/11.
What is “conspiracy”? • Disinformation: • false information that is given deliberately, esp. by government organizations
Relevant to the audience • Examples: • JFK assassination • Moon landing • SARS • 3-19 shooting incident • …
Relevant to the audience • By realizing how do we/people believe in conspiracies, we may be more conscious, before we choose to believe in conspiracies, of what is going on in our mind and then make judgments.
Supporting information • Conspiracy theories connect the dots of random events into meaningful patterns with intentional agency. • Patternicity • Agenticity
Supporting information • Patternicity • the tendency to find meaningful patterns in random noise • Agenticity • the bent to believe the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents
Supporting information • Add to those propensities the confirmation bias and the hindsight bias, and we have the foundation for conspiratorial cognition. • Confirmation bias • Hindsight bias ↓A tendency to a particular kind of behavior
Supporting information • Confirmation bias • seeks and finds confirmatory evidence for what we already believe • Hindsight bias • tailors after-the-fact explanations to what we already know happened Tailor: make or adapt sth for a particular purpose.
Conclusion • When something momentous happens, everything leading up to and away from the events seems momentous, too.