Have any large-scale studies investigated the personality types likely to follow "conspiracy theory" fads ….?
….related to diet and health (e.g. deploring "artificial chemicals" vs. "natural" cures, favoring "colon cleansing" and "raw foods" versus "evil agribusiness", etc.)
I’m not interested in reading emotional rants rehashings of the classic debates surrounding these topics. (Those are easy to find through any search engine or by visiting quackery websites.) I’m asking about published psychological studies appearing in peer-reviewed journals attempting to profile the types of people likely to be drawn to various health fads despite the scientific evidence weighing against their efficacy and safety.
Sources/citations please?
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apparently it never crossed your mind that the people running these "quackery" websites might be supported by the actual quacks. so conspiracies don’t exist, do they? then you had better get to work straightening out all those misinformed history book writers. tell them that all the revolutions throughout the centuries were just spontaneous popular uprisings, that hitler’s takeover of the german government was legitimate, and that the bailout of goldman sachs was the will of the american people. next, you’ll have to get a large portion of the criminal code annulled, and delete all those crimes beginning with,"conspiracy to…". use your brain, man, instead of just repeating other’s ignorance and disinformation.
I believe I have seem some smaller scale studies, but for the life of me I cannot remember where. I think Penn & Teller’s BS has an episode on cospiracy theories and may sight some sources in that episode, theough they themselves will fully admit to being jaded cynics with a bias.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed Would be a good place to start your search.
You’re probably best looking at people who have a fear of technology, doctors etc and a distrust of authority. As well, studies have shown that those with a decent education (I assume not in science!) are more likely to use alt med, possibly because they have greater disposable income to waste on nonsense.
I know there seems to be a thread running on here that tends towards the ‘conspiracy theorist’ set as well as the aforementioned, but these are really not a particularly good example especially given the obvious emotional issues many of them suffer.
Good question though and it’s certainly a good subject if it’s not been studied before.
I’ve seen a few of them – usually they were a cluster analysis of sorts….(in other words, take a bunch of personality characteristics, put them on a three dimensional plot, and see where things ‘light up’) – my password for the journals expired not long ago, or I would post some links for ya
Do a Google scholar (and if you aren’t familiar, on the google page, where it says web, images, etc….more….click on more, its one of the items in the drop down) search for orthorexia, personality characteristics, etc…
Thats just a basic search, enter whatever you like as well
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=orthorexia&hl=en&as_sdt=80000001&as_sdtp=on
I seem to recall they have personality factors very similar to alcoholics
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=alcoholics+personality+types++cluster&as_sdt=80000000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0
Click on a few of those, and you might see something that ‘feels familiar’
If this is for your school work I suggest you do it yourself. Unless you have a really specific question then I don’t think anyone is going to do the research for you.
A cursory look through my library revealed over 700 contemporary papers using the criteria "conspiracy theory psychological profile". Unless you have time on your hands you can either do a similar academic search or pay for someone to do it for you. I’m not going to read 700 paper abstracts to extract the info you want.
My personal experience is that once someone believes in one thing they are likely to believe in 1/2 doz. So you get the atypical right-wing, republican, evangelical christian in the deep south who believes in the 9/11 conspiracy (the government did it), Obama is the anti-christ, ‘they’ are out to take away our assault rifles, government run schools are for indoctrination in the NWO (did I leave out the NWO?). You get the type.
Then there’s another lot who are generally uneducated in anything to do with science so we have the big-pharma is covering up the cure for cancer, Ford bought the patents for the 200 mpg carburettor (despite the fact that the Carnot efficiency cycle is well understood by everyone), poisoning by the agriculture industry, fluoride is to subdue the masses (ready for the NWO). you know this type, they hang around here.
I did find a really funny one though.
"CONSPIRACY WATCH: THE DEVIL WEARS GAGA" Gilson, Dave
ABSTRACT
THE CONSPIRACY: Behind the catchy singles and outrageous getups, Lady Gaga is the pawn in an elaborate Illuminati plot. Looking beyond the surface of her lyrics, videos, and fashion reveals a trove of secret messages and symbols promoting Freemasonry, satanic rituals, and CIA brainwashing. For example, her "Paparazzi" video is a metaphor for how "reeducation by the occult elite" can turn you into a killer robot. Instead of being a savvy image maven, Gaga may be unaware of what she’s doing, since her "robotic and slightly degenerate persona embodies all the ’symptoms’ of a mind control victim."
THE CONSPIRACY THEORIST: The anonymous keeper of the website Vigilant Citizen, an enthusiastic Canadian symbologist and music producer who has been exposing and analyzing the "transhumanist and police state agenda in pop music," including the work of Beyoncé, Lil Wayne, and Rihanna. He confesses that he likes most of the music he deconstructs: "If people have to go through the trouble of incorporating hidden messages in songs, they will certainly pick sure hits, performed by charismatic artists. If those messages were in crappy songs, they would have no effect at all, rendering them useless."