What factors lead someone to believe a conspiracy theory over the official account of events?
Ryan Ceresola, associate professor of sociology and chair of the department of sociology, criminology and human services at Hartwick College, takes a look at this phenomenon.
Ryan Ceresola is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Human Services at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. His teaching at Hartwick College includes courses on quantitative analysis, sociological and criminological theory, white collar crime, sociology of the environment, and the sociology of conspiracy theories.
After receiving a BA in Sociology and English at Pacific Lutheran University, and serving for two years in AmeriCorps in Tacoma, Washington, Ceresola earned his MA and PhD at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, with a dissertation on the effects of U.S. political corruption on voter turnout and citizen trust.
His areas of expertise include criminology, criminal justice, political sociology, rural sociology, civic engagement, and conspiracy theories, among other topics.
Conspiracism
To understand tragedies such as shootings, plane crashes, or untimely deaths, many of us seek out credible information and review fact-based accounts that often reveal these events to be the result of natural accidents or of specific identifiable dysfunctions in our society.
But others may attribute them to the work of nefarious entities conspiring behind the scenes of public discourse. It has been well documented that over half of American adults believe in at least one conspiracy theory.
My own current research grapples with the central question: what sociological factors lead to an individual believing a conspiracy theory over official accounts of events? I seek to understand why someone may be more inclined to attribute the cause of an incident to a conspiracy rather than to more realistic explanations.
When bad things happen, it’s natural to ask: Who’s to blame? But, while ignoring the factual in favor of the sinister may seem more interesting, doing so can serve to advance misinformation and to further widen our country’s political divide.
There’s the psychological side of it that’s innate in all humans—the urge to fill in the missing parts of a story–and there are sociological demographic factors that might make it more likely to believe a conspiracy theory over an official source. Those who are more likely to engage in “conspiracism,” are often those who feel like they’re missing out on something that has been taken away from them, or that they’re owed and not getting from society.
Education, providing those who may be susceptible to conspiracism, offers one solution when it’s focused on promoting critical-thinking skills. It can help those who are tempted to fill in the missing pieces of a story to ask the right questions about where the data is coming from–and avoid going down a YouTube rabbit hole for answers.
Watch More:
[Hartwick] – Video: Faculty Spotlight – Associate Professor of sociology and Department Chair of Sociology, Criminology and Human Services Ryan Ceresola
