By: Maddie Graf
In our tangled political landscape, it is increasingly important to harbor a healthy skepticism about the world around us. However, the misinformed conspiracy theories that have become emboldened by modern day social platforms takes this apprehension too far.
Blindly subscribing to political conspiracy theories ultimately creates a deep-rooted disbelief in our country that allows no room for positive growth and improvement in the future. It is dangerous to the democratic ideals that the United States was built upon.
Conspiracy theories are not a new phenomenon in American politics. Between Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s sprawling Communist accusations in the 1950s to suspicions of the Illuminati in the nation’s early days, political conspiracy theorists have long offered their notions that certain things are not as they seem. Some modern conspiracy theories sound so extremely far from reality, so why do they continue to attract thousands of devout followers?
Social psychology academics offer a few explanations. Many conspiracy theories make use of “cognitive heuristics,” or shortcuts in our general ways of thinking that allow us to simplify and more immediately come to a conclusion. These heuristics are usually rational and are used as tools to make our life easier – but in this situation, conspiracy theories hijack our tendencies to believe things that we see repeatedly or our tendencies to seek patterns in daily life to persuade us.
Even more influential is the effect of uncertainty, anxiety, and fear upon the mind. Psychologists stress that when a person feels unsure or vulnerable or threatened by what they see happening in their political climate, they are more prone to turn to conspiracy theories as a way to “regain control.” Given this explanation, the current uptrend of political conspiracy theories on social media comes as no surprise; with all the unrest in the world, there is no shortage of sources of apprehension and fear.
Fear is a part of the human experience, and one that is not exclusive to one political party or ideology. However, it is when conspiracy theorists capitalize on panic that this fear can become weaponized against our democracy.
An important observation when looking into conspiracy theories is the type of language used to promote them on social media. Conspiracy theorists tend to use short and succinct assertions that have an undertone of authority and sometimes aggression. Conspiracy theorists use what linguists call “monologic” language; they present their views as absolute fact and don’t address any challenges to their way of thinking. It allows them to silence other voices that could potentially point out flaws or blatant misinformation. This is un-democratic.
This epidemic of misinformation poses a serious concern to democracy as it can emboldens extemists. The insurrection on January 6th is a perfect example of the potential consequences of this. One can almost sympathize with the protestors – they had wholeheartedly believed that there was a mass conspiracy that undermined the election. They felt on some level so incredibly scared of their lack of control in the situation that it led them to near hysteria. There must be a way that we can curb harmful and authoritarian conspiracy theories on social media before they take root.
The psychology behind how our minds comb through information and make truth judgments is a crucial part of the solution. A few other mental shortcuts that our brains use include having a tendency to believe information that is newer, that is accompanied by an image, or that is repeated over and over. Since our minds are hard-wired to be generally more accepting of information as true right off the bat, is there any way that we can halt these cognitive biases?
Freedom of speech is a precious commodity to our democracy – so even when “speech” includes non-factual conspiracies online, it deserves to be protected. So instead of restricting what people are allowed to post on social media, I think there is a stronger argument for building a resistance to misinformation among viewers.
Research shows that the best defense against misinformation is implementing preventative measures. Sander van der Linden, professor of Social Psychology in Society at Cambridge, compares political conspiracies to a potent virus, and lessons in critical thinking as a vaccine that should be given to the masses.
In a recent study, he showed people how social media manipulates their thinking. It resulted in their being more critical about the information they came across afterwards. Education can help combat misinformation. We should better understand how our minds are wired to take shortcuts and how our emotions can make us more susceptible to misinformation.
While there may be corruption within the American political system, accepting political conspiracy theories harms our nation. It creates a deep sense of distrust in our country’s foundations, which does nothing to help build a better future.
We have a duty to continue working to improve our democracy and we can’t let rampant online misinformation stop us to that end.
Maddie Graf is a student at George Washington University and is a 2024 summer intern with the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg and PennLive. Read the article on PennLive.
