It's a conspiracyIt's a conspiracy
All In The Mind
9/11 was an inside job, Princess Diana was murdered in a government plot, and the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked. There’s a conspiracy theory for just about every major event—but believers aren’t just on the paranoid fringe, wearing tin foil hats.
28:50•14 Feb 2016
Why Conspiracy Theories Feel So Irresistible
Episode Overview
- Conspiracy theories often feature exceptionally evil and highly competent conspirators with grand, ongoing plots that are designed to be unproven.
- Cognitive biases such as proportionality bias, confirmation bias and intentionality bias make grand conspiratorial explanations feel more satisfying than simple ones.
- A need for control can push people towards conspiratorial explanations, especially when they feel powerless over events or politics.
- Beliefs about vaccines and climate change show how active versus passive risk, ideology and selective information can entrench conspiracy thinking.
- Being too sceptical or too trusting can both be problematic; recognising personal biases and examining evidence more carefully may bring views closer to reality.
“"We're all more drawn to conspiracy theories than we might like to admit."”
What drives someone to seek a neatly packaged story behind chaotic events like JFK, 9/11 or climate change? This episode of *All In The Mind* takes a curious look at why conspiracy theories feel so compelling, even to otherwise reasonable people. Academic psychologist Rob Brotherton joins host Lynne Malcolm to unpack what actually counts as a "conspiracy theory".
He talks about how these narratives usually feature villains who are "unusually evil" and "hyper-competent", running grand plots of world domination that somehow stay perfectly hidden from everyone except a select few who "pick up on the clues". You’ll hear how our brains lean towards explanations where big events must have big causes, making the idea of a lone gunman in the JFK assassination feel emotionally unsatisfying compared with tales of CIA plots or Mafia involvement.
Brotherton explains cognitive quirks such as proportionality bias, confirmation bias and intentionality bias – including the way a few drinks can make someone more likely to assume a bump in a bar was deliberate, not accidental. The conversation also touches on high-profile examples like 9/11, anti-vaccination claims and climate change denial, showing how beliefs about control, risk and ideology can shape whether someone thinks "it was supposed to happen" or sees hidden agendas behind scientific consensus.
Importantly, Brotherton stresses that conspiracy thinking isn’t reserved for "crazy" people in tinfoil hats. Research suggests we all share these mental shortcuts, and that being too dismissive can mean ignoring genuine conspiracies such as Watergate or the CIA’s MK Ultra programme.
By the end, the focus turns to self-reflection: how often do you check whether your own views come from a fair look at the evidence, and how often are they driven by your desire for certainty, control and a good story? Maybe next time you hear about a shadowy plot, you’ll pause and ask: is my brain joining the dots, or are the dots really there?
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