Case Study: Conspiracy Abandonment As Motivated Reasoning

Brian Keeley’s short essay, “Of Conspiracy Theories” discusses conspiracy theories and their value in an epistemological context. Keeley defines a conspiracy theory as “a proposed explanation of some historical event (or events) in terms of the significant causal agency of a relatively small group of persons-the conspirators-acting in secret (Keeley 1999, pg. 116).” Keeley seeks to answer the question of why conspiracy theories are unwarranted. His interest in the warrant of conspiracy theories focuses on ¬the unfalsifiability of conspiracy theories and how conspiracy theories are founded upon an extraordinarily large amount of skepticism. In section III, Keely discusses what a conspiracy theory is, and contends that there is no grounds for

However the example of the poll conducted by the Fairleigh Dickinson University that 63 percent of registered American voters believe in at least one political conspiracy theory lacks in depth explanation of both the data collection process and sample selection criteria. In the absence of adequate detail, it is extremely difficult to assess the validity and reliability of the findings.

When a person is introduced to a conspiracy theory, it has the potential to severely affect the way they view the world, as well as the way their brain processes information. With numerous theories surfacing in the world, and more than 50 percent of Americans believing in at least one conspiracy; it is hard to determine which are real, and which are fiction. As a result of conspiracy theories people stop trusting each other and become less social. An experiment instructed by Sander van der Linden,a Dutch social psychologist in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, show that the belief in conspiracy theories can cause a person to be less pre-social. In his experiment Dr. Linden separated his participants into three groups, the first group watched a video about conspiracy theories of global warming, the second group watched a video about taking action on global warming, and the third group was a control group which did don't watch any video.   Studies conducted by Willem Prooijen,a social and organizational

In Cross’s opinion, she believes people are bamboozled by propaganda because they fail to recognize when they experience it (248). The thirteen propaganda methods Cross describes in this essay include the following: Name-Calling, Glittering Generalities, Plain-Folks Appeal, Arguementum Ad Populum (Stroking),

The authors lay out their John Q. Public model in the Second Chapter. The first pragmatic chapters stipulate evidence using response time-based measures that people constantly engage in stimulated cognition about political figures, issues, and groups (Chapter 3). In Chapter 4, Lodge and Taber argue that these processes influence implicit in and out group identifications. Furthermore, they demonstrate that subliminal negative or positive emotional stimuli can influence a political candidate’s evaluation and conscious reflection on the real political issues (Chapter 5). Lodge and Taber argue that their findings conquer with their proposed “affective contagion” model that is instrumental to the attitude formation and updating process. The authors then provide evidence that individuals’ priorities determine how they select and process information. The conventional studies presented in the Sixth Chapter employ unequivocal measures and thought listing tasks. The chapter finds steady patterns of motivated reasoning among people and sophisticates with strong initial attitudes. The patterns include confirmation bias, disconfirmation bias, and selective exposure; these are further motivated in the Seventh Chapter of the book. Lodge and Taber’s Final Chapter offer an ambitious attempt to formalize and test a computational model based on their JQP model. In their conclusion, the

In the world today there are events that happen and have stories untold. On the rise are many different twists that come about from events happening. “63 percent of registered American voters believe in at least one political conspiracy theory according to a recent poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University” (“Theories Prosper”). There are many different conspiracy theories in the world today including, included in the top ten lists of conspiracy theories is the Sandy Hook elementary shooting, the Boston Marathon bombings, as well as the September 11th terrorist attacks. Ever wonder how a conspiracy theory comes alive and what is all needed to justify the meaning of a conspiracy theory?

The perpetuation of misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting effects even after it is discredited. For instance, if an audience is reliant on the information provided by the media to make an informative decision about a topic involving their morals, the validity of the author’s claims will determine the mass majority of their decisions they make in the future. As a result, false information may continue to influence beliefs and attitudes even after being debunked if it is not replaced by an alternate causal explanation.

The United States government has historically used propaganda to entice, encourage, and even shame a person into enlisting in to the uniformed services and/or supporting the war effort. The effective use of propaganda does not only affect the American public’s opinion of a war and its leaders, but also affects their commitment to the war effort. Ineffective use (or lack of) of propaganda can lead to resentment and undermine public trust in its leaders and their ability to lead the nation. This essay will show how the use of media has either supported or hindered the effective use of governmental propaganda in influencing the American public during times of war and why is it sometimes not important to know what is the “whole truth.” The areas that will be covered will be the propaganda used during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I-II, the Cold War/Vietnam, and also it’s affect on public opinion.

People come up with crazy ideas all the time, many of which are torn apart by scientific evidence. However, some ideas are crafted so precisely and detailed; they are accepted as fact by millions of people. These alternatives to accepted history are known as Conspiracy Theories, and the people who create them are of a special breed. It is difficult to imagine having the time and passion to craft an alternative reason behind many of the world’s events and tragedies, but these people are born to do so. There is a specific recipe for such a person, a carefully crafted powerful concoction that breeds the hatred for government and the quest for the “truth”. Such people have been around for thousands of years,

People hear about political issues all over the news and form their own opinions on them, but are they really deciding beliefs for themselves or are they just believing whatever the media tells them? Because of the modern day media biased, many people do not think independently, even when they think they are. They merely believe the lies the media feeds them and do not research the matter themselves to get an accurate idea of what is truly going on and how the control of information will impact the world around them. Because of people’s tendency to accept any piece of information that gets shoved down their throats, the US is slowly digging itself into the same government-controlled, no-freedom world as in the book 1984 by George Orwell.

The interview was took place on the 9th of November in the classroom of 11- Mead. Ms. Kyra Mallari and Kayla Flores where tasked to be the interviewers for Mr. Robert James Nitura, High School teacher of Miriam College. The Interview was on Western Conspiracy Theories, with it being categorized into 4: Political Conspiracy Theories, Extraterrestrial and Unearthly Creatures & Legends, Existential Conspiracy Theories, and Historical Conspiracy Theories. The Interviewers goal for the interview was to capture the audience’s attention through the exchange of the interviewer’s and interviewee’s beliefs and opinions, Expound the interviewee’s knowledge on the topic through the use of the Maieutic method, and look into and give value to western conspiracy

To most a fairy tale, to some an interesting topic of discussion, however, to a small population, 5 % to be exact, Government conspiracy does exist. How, you might ask, do I intend to prove that indeed government conspiracy is real? I do not intend to prove it. In fact I only intend to inform you of its ever growing ploy of world domination, capitalism and control and open your mind to the idea that government conspiracy is out there. Throughout history as it is known to repeat itself, I will show facts that support this “theory” and dismiss the legendary lies we have been taught to believe through a system known as memetics.

People tend to carefully hang a frame in their minds as if they were, they had just moved into a new home. As soon as people hear something that favors their perspective from what the claim is a legitimate source, they would argue, that whatever that source is saying, is true. “Every narrative make assumptions about how the world works, what is important, what makes sense, what should be. All frames are selective because they are based on decisions about what to include and exclude,” (Schudson, 2011). Schudson’s remarks about how people from certain perspectives frame a certain event by his theory being “Frame Theory”. Frame Theory in Schudson terms, is that everyone frames something in their own image, whether doing it subconsciously or purposely, it’s instinctive to human nature. This can be amplified by the media, stereotypes, and by one’s own belief. James Bamford, who wrote the novel “A Pretext of War” had made the strongest impression of criticizing the Bush

The Feeling Thermometer Rating expresses how the respondent feels about Wallace, with subjects ranking him on a scale of 1 - 100, and a rating of 50 being neutral toward the candidate. The Cognitive Model of Attitude Formation states that you must call to mind information about an object and then calculate the attitude based on the weighted sum of beeliefs based on the salience (availability) and centrality (importance) of a specific attribute. Each and every bit of information within Wallace’s bio allowed those surveyed to store information and form attitudes about Wallace. Everything from his party affiliation, to his baseball ticket scandal and his perceived competency to be a good leader, formed each persons attitudes toward him. Their overall calculated belief was then formed based on the valence of each issue, with every persons response differing as some issues involving more salience or some more centrality than others. The differences would not solely result from party, but also within parties for instance, to one schematic Republican respondent, immigration may be the most important issue so they would assign it a higher level of centrality, which would affect its valence. The Cognitive Model of Attitude Formation argues that specifically schematic respondents should have stronger feelings about the candidate than aschematics as they have more information stored. If told that Wallace was a Republican or Democrat, schematics are able to activate their schemas having more salience of political knowledge with both Panel 1 and Panel 2 show evidence of this. Schematics, due to activated schemas hold stronger beliefs and were therefore less likely to give a higher overall score on the Feeling Thermometer when Wallace held a party view that was the opposite of their onwn. Schematic Republicans and

We live in a world of technological innovation where mass media is a major part of us today. People make assumptions on what they hear. They do not try to analyze the situation to see who is right and who is wrong, and mass media is the main source of manipulating one's mind. The concept of propaganda has changed over time. Propagandists create ideas stereotypically through the use of propaganda and use media to promote it and target people's minds to have influence on their views towards a certain group of people. These ideas create negative or positive images in the intended audience's minds. However, it is notable that the information is only the one that is exemplified through media and therefore, can be